THE EXILES. i i RUSSIAN STORY. After waiting a few minutes, Yegor and M Lafleur saw the head of a seal emerge nrudently from tho Ice. The quickest of hie two bears gave it a blow with its claws which brought it half dead out of the water. Then the bears precipitated themselves upon the amphibious creature, tore it to pieces, Ind began to devour it. This was a favorable, moment to attack them. Yogor, who had had all the trouble In the world to restrain the two Siberian logs and keep them silent, released them. On hearing them bark, the bears seemed uncertain as to whether they should allow themselves to be attacked or beat a retreat. But already M. Lafleur had fired a ball at each of them. The bears hesitated no longer, and seeing that they had to deal with resolute hunters, vanished behind the ice blocks. ' CHAPTER XXVII.—YEKMAC PATS HIS DEBT. Then began an animated chase across the blocks of ice. Yegor and M. Lafleur ad vanced, guided by the furious barking of the dogs. But tho bears went still faster; from time to time, the hunters saw them climbing over the icebergs, white as them selves, and altogether out of range of their guns. As they went along, M. Lafleur told Yeg or, who put but slight faith in what ho said, that when the ice of the soa commences to form, in tho month of September, the white bear female captures and kills a great num ber of seals which it hides in the hollows of some rock. Afterwards, it goes into the in terior of the country to gorge itself with lichens, in order to create in its stomach a sort of mechanical obstruction; theii, it returns to its magazines of provisions and fills itself with as much seal fat as it can hold. This done, it takes up winter quar ters in a hole it has dug in the side of a glacier. After a certain period of seclusion, it brings forth one, two, and sometimes three cubs. In this crystalline crib, it nourishes and exercises its progeny in walking until the commencement of April, when, in their turn, the seals begin to bring forth young. Then, the ursine family quits its retreat, the mother marching at its head and snuf fing the air. It seeks out and follows, thanks to Its scent, the invisible track of a seal as far as the spot where tho poor creature-is rearing its young offspring. When the boar has found tho iglou of the seal, easy to re cognize because of its round shape (like the Iglou of tho Esquimau), it makes a spring, bounds upon the top of the slight habitation, and makes sueh good use of its four paws and its weight that it breaks it in, immedi ately seizing upon the young seals with which to regale its cubs. .icgur uuacrvuu w xvx. buuii su many fables circulated in _ regard to the polar bear that it behoovod one not to be lieve too readily everything said concerning it, especially its wintering by means of vol untary burial. Suddenly, as they were advancing a little distance apart, a third bear, putting the dogs off the scent—the dogs were running too far forward—surged up from behind a block of ice and came towards them with that confidence in its strength or that ignor ance of danger which characterizes the boar of the Arctic Ocean. Yegor perceived it as it was treacherously advancing; he took aim at it, and M. Laf leur, quickly turning about at this moment, sent a ball after the bear, but missed it. Yegor waited until the animal came nearen When it was within ten paces, he fired twice and hit it. The boar, feeling itself wounded, stopped for an instant and howled; but it immedi ately took to flight, tinging the snow with its blood. M. Lafleur vainly discharged his gun at It Tho bear scampered away, and soon dis appeared among blocks of ice whither it was Impossible to pursue it. The dogs, badly trained for the chase, ob stinately clung to the tracks of the fist two bears, and the hunters ran a great risk of returning empty-handed—a prospect more than disagreeable, considering the scarcity of provisions. Meanwhile, Nadege and Ladislas, who had remained in tho hut beside the fire, grew anxious at the long absence of tho hanters. Yermac, seated opposite to them, looked at them in silence, avoiding, when they spoke to him, any other reply than a motion of the head or a shrug of the shoul ders. The look of this taciturn man weighed upon Nadege. Wab, doubtless hearing in the distance the barking of the two Siberian dogs, began to howl in a fashion that made an impression on the young girl. She put on her warmest garmonts and, followed by Ladislas, ventured out of the hut. The twilight had begun early, and the state of the sea seemed to her n sufficient cause for uneasiness. Clouds, harbingers a tempest, were heaped up to the east. Mists were rising from the ocean. Soon she saw the water, beaten by the hurricane, spring up in immense shoaves and fall back noisily upon the white promontories. Under the influence of a violent north-east wind, the yet free waters of several open spaces