86 THE NORTH POLE 



we were all looking over the side for him to appear, 

 our craft was hit a tremendous whack by something 

 under the stern — so hard that it upset the bosun, 

 who was standing there peacefully sculling. 



"Our friend was getting a little too strenuous; but 

 he dived before I could shoot again, and came up 

 fifty yards off. Then I hit him with a bullet, and he 

 disappeared. Maybe we were not an anxious crowd 

 in that boat for the next few minutes, as we knew 

 that that submarine earthquake was due for another 

 blow-up at any instant — but when and where! We 

 stared at the surface of the water, to see if possible 

 from what direction the next attack would come. 



"One more such scrimmage as the last and we 

 would be all in — both literally and metaphorically; 

 for he had put a big hole through the bottom of the 

 boat, and as she had a double bottom we could not 

 check the leak, and one man had to bale rapidly. We 

 always carried along a lot of old coats to stop holes 

 in the boats, but in this case they might as well have 

 been pocket handkerchiefs. 



"Suddenly an Eskimo who was looking over the 

 side yelled: 'Kingeemutt! Kingeemutt!' ('Back her! 

 Back her!') But the words were hardly out of his 

 mouth when — smash ! rip ! bang ! — the stern of the 

 boat rose under the shock, the bosun was nearly 

 knocked overboard, an Eskimo catching him on the 

 fly, and a hole I could have put both fists through sud- 

 denly appeared within an inch of his foot, just above 

 the water line. 



"I looked over the gunwale. There the brute lay 

 on his back, tusks upright under the stern; then with 



