68 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



The bear stopped and revealed to us a second 

 patch of blood on its right paw ; but this fresh 

 wound, instead of bringing it to earth, seemed 

 to give it fresh strength, and it vanished over 

 the ice at a swift trot. Commander de Gerlache 

 followed the flight from the crow's-nest, and 

 informed us that the beast halted a second 

 time, and again resumed its trot. It is possible 

 the bear heard the approach of the two men I 

 sent after it at speed, following the blood 

 tracks. Hearing them it contrived to escape. 

 I am convinced that had it been left to itself 

 for a few hours we should easily have over- 

 taken it. In the morning Recamier, Bergen- 

 dhal, and Ottersen endeavoured to locate its 

 whereabouts, but all trace of it had vanished 

 in the melting snow. We were all thankful 

 to regain the ship without accident. We had 

 found the ice in a very bad condition, and all 

 of us had successively fallen into snow crevasses 

 or into the canals we were compelled to cross, 

 which ran swiftly, and threatened to draw us 

 beneath the ice. But for Ottersen, who showed 

 us how to cross these canals by making stepping- 

 stones of floating ice-blocks, we should probably 

 not only have lost the bear, but more than one 

 of the men. 



I have related this incident at length, 



