54 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



fully armed and ready for the struggle. These 

 were days when we believed a bear would turn 

 upon the hunter ! 



The snow was deep and soft ; we were ad- 

 vised to take skis, but having had no experience 

 of them, Recamier elected to take snow-shoes, 

 and I followed his example. All went well at 

 first ; the snow-shoes bore us well. Very soon, 

 however, we arrived at a spot where the drifting 

 snow had become loose and powdery. Jonas, 

 on his skis, went forward without hesitation ; 

 we sank almost to our waists. When we sought 

 to withdraw our legs, the snow-shoes be- 

 came scoops heavily weighted with snow. To 

 progress thus was fatiguing in the extreme ; 

 we splashed onwards desperately, perspiration 

 streaming from us. Had the bear turned on 

 us at that moment we should have proved very 

 easy prey. But there was no sign of a bear, 

 nor even traces of one, so Recamier and myself 

 sat down to rest on an ice-hill, whilst Jonas 

 went to reconnoitre. The man in the crow's- 

 nest aboard the ship signalled to us, but we 

 could not understand his meaning. 



After some time Commander de Gerlache 

 glided up to us on skis, and informed us that 

 he had located the bear. He indicated the 

 line we were to follow, and again we went 



