THE LARGE POLAR BEARS, I49 The next day, about nine o'clock, a fresh complication compelled Hobson to take active steps. He knew that the pipes of the stove and kitchen furnace ran all along the loft, and being made of lime-bricks but imperfectly cemented together, they could not resist great pressure for any length of time. Now some of the bears scratched at the masonry, whilst others leant against the pipes for the sake of the warmth from the stove ; so that the bricks began to give way, and soon the stoves and furnace ceased to draw. This really was an irreparable misfortune, which would have dis- heartened less energetic men. But things were not yet at their worst. Whilst the fire became lower and lower, a thick, nauseous, acrid smoke filled the house ; the pipes were broken, and the smoke soon became so thick that the lamps went out. Hobson now saw that he must leave the house if he wished to escape suffocation, but to leave the house would be to perish with cold. At this fresh misfor- tune some of the women screamed ; and Hobson, seizing a hatchet, shouted in a loud voice — " To the bears ! to the bears, my friends ! " It was the forlorn-hope. These terrible creatures must be destroyed. All rushed into the passage and made for the ladder, Hobson leading the way. The trap-door was opened, and a few shots were fired into the black whirlpool of smoke. Mingled howls and screams were heard, and blood began to flow on both sides ; but the fearful conflict was waged in profound darkness. In the midst of the melee a terrible rumbling sound suddenly drowned the tumult, the ground became violently agitated, and the house rocked as if it were being torn up from its foundations. The beams of the walls separated, and through the openings Hobson and his companions saw the terrified bears rushing away into the dark- ness, howling with rage and fright.
