-i 1.6 Chapter VI. 



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along the opening. The dog presently began to go 

 more cautiously and straighter forward ; then he stopped 

 making any noise except a low growl we were evidently 

 clrawino- near. I mounted a hummock to look about, 



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and caught sight among the blocks of ice of something- 

 dark, which seemed to be coming towards us. ' There 

 comes a black dog,' I called. ' No, it is a bear,' said 

 Sverdrup, who was more to the side of it and could see 

 better. I saw now, too, that it was a large animal, and 

 that it had only been its head that I had taken for a 

 doo;. It was not unlike a bear in its movements, but 



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it seemed to me remarkably dark in colour. I pulled 

 the revolver out of the holster and rushed forward to 

 empty all its barrels into the creature's head. When 

 I was just a few paces from it, and preparing to shoot, it 

 raised its head and I saw that it was a walrus, and that 

 same moment it threw itself sideways into the water. 

 There we stood. To shoot at such a fellow with a 

 revolver would be of as much use as squirting water at a 

 goose. The great black head showed again immediately 

 in a strip of moonlight on the dark water. The animal 

 took a long look at us, disappeared for a little, 

 appeared again nearer, bobbed up and down, blew, lay 

 with its head under water, shoved itself over towards us, 

 raised its head again. It was enough to drive one mad : 

 if we had only had a harpoon I could easily have stuck 

 it into its back. Yes, if we had had and back to the 

 Fram we ran as fast as our legs would carry us, to get 



