158 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



a hand harpoon. Provided he succeeded in 

 harpooning the youngster, the mother would 

 most certainly not desert it, and we would have 

 the opportunity of treating her in the same 

 way. Then, all that would remain would be 

 for me to shoot the animals. 



We arranged all this in lowered voices while 

 we approached the floe on which the mother and 

 her calf were peacefully sleeping, side by side, 

 with their backs towards us. We were about 

 thirty feet from the animals when they awoke, 

 and, raising themselves on their fore fins, in- 

 spected us curiously. Joe and myself seized 

 this opportunity to photograph them. As they 

 turned towards the edge of the floe, the calf 

 leading, Swensen fired the gun. The animals 

 disappeared in a cloud of smoke and spray, but 

 I saw the harpoon line run out swiftly, then stop 

 with a jerk, and we found the boat was being 

 towed along rapidly. The men hauled on the 

 line, and the two animals came to the surface 

 just ahead of us. 



The young one, which we had harpooned, 

 swam with all its strength ; the mother did her 

 best to help it to escape. Suddenly, however, 

 she appeared to realise that escape was out of 

 the question. Thereupon she dived, reappeared 

 quite close to the boat, and charged at us. 



