A BEAR HUNT. 63 



down to dinner, when two white objects were seen on the 

 mainland near the shore, which the glass showed to be a she 

 bear and her cub. In a short time the dingy was lowered, 

 and two of the officers jumped in, armed with rifles, and 

 were rowed ashore against a strong gale. When the boat 

 struck the beach all jumped ashore and started in pursuit, 

 headed by Mr. Tracey, the carpenter, who, though drenched 

 to the skin in effecting a landing, abated not his energy in 

 the chase. After going several miles with little prospect of 

 coming up with (he game, all returned to the ship except 

 the carpenter, who, pointing ahead and shouting, ' Excelsior,' 

 kept up the pursuit. Success attended his efforts, and he 

 returned at ten o'clock at night, after traveling about ten 

 miles and killing both bears." 



At eleven o'clock the same night a voice from the sand 

 epit hailed the ship, and was recognized through the howling 

 of the gale as that of Captain Berry, who had just returned 

 from his inland journey. He was accompanied by one of 

 the men, and said the others of his party were suffering 

 from lame feet, and had lagged behind. A boat crew, in 

 charge of Mr. Hodgson, pulled to the beach and started tc 

 find the wayfarers. A severe snow storm and hard gale 

 tended to make the search a difficult one ; but they returned 

 at three o'clock in the morning with two of the men (Dom- 

 inic and Peterson), who were found sleeping about five miles 

 from the ship. 



As nothing had yet been seen of Dr. Jones, Ensign Stoney, 

 with a boat's crew, landed at the head of the bay, some four 

 miles from the ship, and searched the shores for several 

 miles in each direction. They got back to the ship in the 

 afternoon. Meantime Dr. Jones, accompanied by Melms, 

 had reached the harbor and been taken on board ship. He 

 had passed the night without much discomfort, under a shel- 

 ter which Melms had constructed. 



Lieutenant Berry had reached a point about twenty miles 

 inland, where, from a mountain 2,500 feet high, he was ena- 

 bled to see open water entirely around the island, except 



