478 THE PROGRESS OF MARITIME DISCOVERY, 
which had sent them this unexpected succour in the wilder- 
ness, would guide them safely through all their difficulties. 
And indeed they stood in need of this consolatory belief, for 
as early as September the ground was frozen so hard that they 
tried in vain to dig a grave for a dead comrade, and their 
cramped fingers could hardly proceed with the building of the hut. 
The attacks of the white bears also gave them great trouble. 
One day Barentz, from the deck of the vessel, seeing three bears 
stealthily approaching a party of bis men who were labouring at 
the hut, shouted loudly to warn them of their peril, and the men, 
startled at the near approach of danger, sought safety in flight. 
One of the party, in his haste and perturbation, fell into a clett 
in the ice; but the hungry animals fortunately overlooked him, 
and continued their pursuit of the main body. These gained 
the vessel and began to congratulate themselves on their safety, 
when, to their horror, they perceived that their foes, instead of 
retreating from a hopeless pursuit, were actually scaling the ship’s 
sides, evidently determined to have their meal. Matters now 
became serious. One of the sailors was despatched for a light, 
but in his hurry and agitation could not get the match to take 
fire (Enfields and revolvers were then unknown), and the 
muskets being thus rendered useless, the sailors in despair kept 
their enemies off by pelting them with whatever articles came 
first to hand. This unequal conflict continued for some time, 
until a well-directed blow on the snout of the largest bear caused 
the barking* monster to retire from the field followed by his 
two companions, 
“who, seeing Hector flee, 
No longer dared to face the enemy.” 
By the middle of October the hut was completed; and though 
the accommodations it afforded were extremely scanty, they were 
glad to take up their abode in it at once. 
And now began the long, dreary, three months’ night of the 
77th degree of latitude, during which snow-drifts and im- 
petuous winds confined them to their miserable dwelling. “ We 
‘ooked pitifully one upon the other,” says Gerret De Veer, the 
simple narrator of the sufferings of that Arctic winter, “ being 
* “T did not hear them roar as ours do, but they only bark.” — Marten’s Voyage 
tc Spitzbergen. 
