170 A BEAR HUNT 



upstander, and with its aid to recover his seat. The 

 tangled ice greatly retarded the impatient dogs, bring- 

 ing them several times almost to a stand ; but their 

 eagerness and their drivers' energy finally triumphed 

 over all obstacles, and they emerged at length, after 

 much serious embarrassment, upon a broad and almost 

 level plain, where for the first time the game came in 

 view. 



The delay of the sledges in the hummocks had al- 

 lowed the bears to get the start of fully a mile, and it 

 appeared probable that they would reach the water 

 before they could be overtaken. The dogs seemed to 

 be conscious of this danger, as well as the hunters, 

 and they laid themselves down to the chase with all 

 the wild instinct of their nature. Maddened by the 

 detention and the prospect of the prey escaping them, 

 the blood-thirsty pack swept across the plain like a 

 whirlwind. Jensen and Hans encourao-ed their re- 

 spective teams by all the arts known to the native 

 hunter. The sledges fairly flew over the hard snow 

 and bounced over the drifts and the occasional pieces 

 of ice which projected above the otherwise generally 

 smooth surface. 



It was a wild chase. The dogs manifested in their 

 speed and cry all the impatience of a pack of hounds 

 in view of the fox, with ten times their savageness. 

 As they neared the game they seemed to Sonntng like 

 so many wolves closing upon a wounded buffalo. 



In less than a quarter of an hour the distance be- 

 tween pursuers and pursued was lessened to a few 

 hundred yards, and then they were not far from the 

 water, — which to the one was safety, to the other de- 

 feat. During all this time the old bear was kept back 

 by the young one, which she was evidently unwilling 



