BIGGEST GAME IN ARCTIC 149 



appeared, was the mouth of a ravine, and I stopped 

 the sledge there and waited. In a little while my men 

 appeared slowly working their way down the ravine. 

 The dogs which had been in at the death were attached 

 to the bear, as if he had been a sledge, and they were 

 dragging him after them. It was an interesting scene: 

 the steep and rocky ravine in its torn mantle of snow, 

 the excited dogs straining ahead with their unusual 

 burden, the inert cream-colored, blood-streaked form 

 of the great bear, and the shouting and gesticulating 

 Eskimos. 



When they finally got the bear down to the shore, 

 and while I was taking photographs of him, the Eski- 

 mos walked up and down excitedly discussing the now 

 certain fact that the devil had been in this animal, 

 or he never would have traveled as he did after the 

 dogs overtook him. The subtleties of arctic demon- 

 ology being beyond the grasp of any mere white man, 

 I did not join in the argument as to whither the devil 

 had betaken himself when the rifle of Ooblooyah laid 

 low his fleshly tenement. 



Our prize was soon skinned and cut up by the 

 skilful knives of the Eskimos, the meat was piled 

 on the shore for future parties to bring back to 

 the ship, the bearskin was carefully folded on one 

 of the sledges, and we returned to the place where 

 we had first seen the bear, on the other side of the 

 bay. 



There we found the supplies which had been thrown 

 from the sledges to lighten them for the bear chase; 

 and as the men and dogs were tired out, and we were 

 satisfied with the day's work, we camped on the spot. 



