74 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



adventure I had with a bear in the Franz Joseph 

 ice-field. The animal dived and swam so well 

 that at one time I regarded its escape as inevit- 

 able. Over confidence had led us to make a 

 false manoeuvre. We were sailing across a series 

 of large, mist-shrouded lakes. Large icebergs 

 were completely absent ; small floes measuring 

 from ten to twenty yards surrounded us. Sud- 

 denly a sailor in the bows observed a bear some 

 four or five hundred yards away, swimming for 

 the ice. We instantly pursued it under full 

 steam, but the animal was surprisingly quick, 

 and it was as much as we could do to gain upon 

 it. To the despair of the photographers on 

 board who desired to photograph the bear in 

 the water, I tried a long shot, but missed. 

 Afterwards I was compelled to wait patiently, 

 rifle to shoulder, the moment when my enthu- 

 siastic friends should have made their exposures. 

 It was then that the bear adopted tactics with 

 which we were quite unacquainted. It dived 

 suddenly to reappear fifty yards away. On 

 coming to the surface, it turned to regard the 

 ship curiously, splashed the water a little and 

 dived once again. In spite of this stratagem we 

 contrived to overtake it very quickly, and I made 

 ready to fire, but was once again prevented 

 by Merite, who desired to make still one more 



