

i62 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



beating the water, and two shots ended 

 it. Most remarkable was it that the body did 

 not sink. Evidently the animal had been so 

 terribly injured by the harpoon, which had 

 completely opened its chest, that it had been 

 unable to fill its lungs with water at the moment 

 of death, as these animals usually do. The 

 lungs, having remained filled with air, caused the 

 animal to float. 



It was a magnificent male. We secured it 

 firmly by the head, and having with some 

 difficulty negotiated the mass of ice splinters 

 which had collected around us, we reached 

 the Belgica, which had followed us. Joe had 

 feared that the explosion of the gun might 

 detach some of the large seracs which seemed 

 ready to fall from a glacier near at hand, and 

 as on such occasions the resulting wave is 

 always exceedingly high and powerful, the 

 Commander had diminished the distance be- 

 tween us in case of accident. 



We now made preparations to hoist the 

 monster on board, a by no means simple opera- 

 tion. The two preceding animals had already 

 caused the crew considerable trouble. The 

 present carcass was much larger than the others, 

 and new methods had to be adopted. We 

 found it necessary to pass the rope to which it 





