Adventure With a Bear

4.9

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

It was a difficult journey. The whole ship was like a ship of glass; everything was covered with ice.

Even when the sun was shining, the weather was very cold. There was ice on the beards of the sailors.

At night it was very cold, but, of course, at that time the sailors were always on deck and were watching for the huge masses of drift ice. An iceberg could suddenly appear before the ship in the darkness and nobody knew at what moment the ship could hit against such a white mountain in the water.

But the darkness, the cold, the unknown seas, the danger night and day, could not spoil the good mood of the young midshipmen. They were brave lads and the bravest of all was the captain’s nephew, Horatio. Horatio was always the first lad who offered his help in any dangerous situation. Everybody knew this, the sailors loved him very much and called him “Reckless Raty.”

One day the ship was close to a great field of ice. There was little food on the ship and the captain sent a party of men to try to find some animal because they needed fresh meat.

The sailors knew that it was dangerous, but as they went across the ice, they shouted and laughed like schoolboys in the holidays. They did not find anything and at last decided that it was better to return to the ship, when one of them cried, “Boys, where is Raty?” They could not see him anywhere.

It was very dangerous to lose one’s way in such a place. “What will the captain say if we return to the ship without Raty?”

At that moment they heard a shot far away to the left. The sailors ran in that direction and found Raty. He was fighting with a very big white bear. There was a spot of blood on the bear’s side after Raty's shot. The bear was wild with anger and pain.

Luckily, there was a deep crack in the ice between Raty and the bear. The bear tried to cross it many times, but each time Raty hit it on the nose with his gun.

When the sailors saw the danger, they ran up as fast as they could. Reckless Raty was a favorite on the ship and they were all ready to risk their lives for him. They came almost too late. Raty struck a great blow at the bear but at that moment he slipped, fell on the ice and dropped his gun. Before he could rise again, the bear attacked him again. One of the sailors fired. The bullet struck the bear’s paw. The wounded bear was afraid of so many men who were running and shouting, and it 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 anything you like? Why did you want to shoot that bear?”

“I wanted to give the bear’s skin to my father,” answered Raty simply.

The old captain smiled. “Well, you are a brave lad, and I shall not punish you too hard; but I think that your father is waiting for you and not for the bear’s skin. Remember that, Horatio.”

Did you understand who Raty was? It was the future admiral; his name was Horatio Nelson.