Adventure With a Bear

4.9

This is a story about a boy who later became a very famous man in England. He was a young midshipman on one of the ships that the British Government sent to the northern seas at the end of the 18th century.

The journey was very hard. The whole ship looked like it was made of glass, because everything was covered with ice. Even when the sun was shining, it was very cold. The sailors had ice on their beards.

At night the cold was terrible, but the sailors stayed on deck to watch for big pieces of floating ice. An iceberg could suddenly appear in the darkness, and the ship might crash into it at any moment.

But the darkness, the cold, and the danger could not spoil the good mood of the young midshipmen. They were brave boys, and the bravest of them all was the captain's nephew, Horatio. Everyone liked him very much and called him "Reckless Raty."

One day the ship came near a large field of ice. The sailors had very little food left, so the captain sent a group of men to look for animals to hunt for fresh meat.

The sailors knew it was dangerous, but they laughed and shouted as they walked over the ice, like schoolboys on holiday. They didn't find any animals and decided to return to the ship. Then one of them shouted, "Where is Raty?" They couldn't see him anywhere.

Suddenly they heard a gunshot far away. The sailors ran in that direction and found Raty fighting with a big white bear. The bear was bleeding from Raty's shot and was very angry.

Luckily, a deep crack in the ice separated Raty and the bear. Every time the bear tried to cross, Raty hit it on the nose with his gun.

When the sailors saw what was happening, they ran to help him as fast as they could. Raty was a favorite among them, and they were ready to risk their lives for him. But they almost came too late. Raty hit the bear hard, but he slipped, fell on the ice, and dropped his gun. The bear attacked again. One of the sailors fired and hit the bear's paw. Frightened by the noise and the men, the bear ran away.

That evening the captain heard the story. When he saw Raty, he said angrily, "Do you think that because you are my nephew, you can do whatever you want?" "Why did you try to shoot that bear?"

"I wanted to give the bear's skin to my father," said Raty simply.

The old captain smiled. "You are a brave boy, and I will not punish you too hard." "But remember, your father wants you — not the bear's skin."

Do you know who Raty was? He was the future Admiral Horatio Nelson.