BEARS 85 



in order that they might resume their interrupted 

 meal on the remains of the bear. 



Sometime afterwards I saw, far away to 

 the south, a blot in the sea which awakened my 

 curiosity. This blot appeared to be coming 

 towards us, and from time to time increased 

 in size as though it rose out of the water. Round 

 about it, and moving with it, were several 

 black specks which I recognised as the heads of 

 seals. To my great joy, the binoculars revealed 

 the head of a bear swimming directly towards 

 us, pausing now and then to lift its head and 

 look about. Great, indeed, was my astonish- 

 ment when I saw that the seals formed a kind of 

 escort around the bear, diving and splashing 

 as though mocking their enemy, knowing that 

 in the sea they were immune from danger. 

 On becoming conscious of our approach, the 

 bear came to a halt, then turned and swam 

 from us. We overtook it rapidly. When it 

 came to floating ice it clambered on to it and 

 trotted swiftly across it in order to gain the 

 advance, but the bergs were too small and too 

 rare in this large lake to permit of its escaping 

 us. Very soon we were close to it. As though 

 divining escape to be impossible, the bear 

 ceased swimming, stretched itself full length 

 in the water and watched us. As Merite 



