UNDER THE POLAR STAR 281 



lands and seas of ice this Bear is king of fonrfoots. 

 Of man, too, he 2vas king, when man meant only the 

 Eskimo armed with a knife and spear. Then Bear 

 hnnting was dangerons indeed, — blow for blow, tooth 

 against knife-blade, arm of muscle tipped with long 

 claws against brittle harpoon. Now a long-range rifle, 

 keen eyes, and a steady hand, have turned the peril 

 from man to Bear, and soon the great hungry beasts 

 will have left the Arctic twilight as the Bison left 

 the prairie. Snow may be her bed, but the she Bear's 

 heart beats warm and lovingly for her cubs, — or ratlier 

 cub, for she usually has but one, — and she will let her- 

 self be killed before man or beast may touch it. 



" Tramp, tramp, tramp, go the Bear's feet through 

 the snow, leaving the even-planted print of heel and 

 toe, as a man's foot does. Now follow them round 

 Hudson's Bay, across the north coast, turning south- 

 ward down Alaska. Then crossing Behri ng Strait, go 

 on to where ice floes go through the chains and dots of 

 islands to the Pribilofs, where in summer there are no 

 nights and in winter moonlight is daylight, the islands 

 wliere the sealskin jacket lived when it was at home, 

 for J can guess that this jacket was once the covering 

 of tliree bachelor Seals ! " 



