"
Fritz seemed grieved to give up his plan, and suggested that he could
forge some strong bars of iron to place before the opening, which could
be removed at will.
"But," said I, "they will not prevent the snakes from passing
underneath. I have noticed some with terror, as they are animals I have
a great antipathy to; and if your mother saw one crawl into her grotto,
she would never enter it again; even if she did not die of fright."
"Well, we must give it up," said Fritz; "but it is a pity. Do you
think, father, there are more bears in the island than those we killed?"
"In all probability," said I; "it is scarcely to be supposed that there
should only be two. I cannot well account for their being here. They can
swim very well, and perhaps the abundance of fruit in this part of the
island may have attracted them." I then gave my son a short account of
their manners and habits, from the best works on the history of
these animals.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XLVI.
Whilst we continued to talk and to admire the beauty of the stars, they
at length began to fade away before the first light of morning. Ernest
returned to us, and we awoke Jack, who had slept uninterruptedly, and
was quite unconscious where he was. We returned to the pass, which now,
by the light of day, seemed to us in a more hopeless state than in the
dusk of evening.
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