ARCTIC SCHOOLBOYS AND THEIR HOLIDAYS. 219 



Meantime they were very successful in the hunt. Seals were caught in numbers, and 

 their twenty-nine dogs kept in good condition on the meat. The dogs were at this period 

 kept on the ice outside the ship, and occasionally one would start out on a solitary 

 expedition, remaining away all night, but invariably returning for meal-time. On the 

 evening of November 2nd there was a sudden call "to arms," and every one, whether 

 " sleeping, prosing, or schooling " for Dr. Walker held a school on board flew to the 

 ice, where a large he-bear was seen struggling with the dogs. He had approached within 

 twenty-five yards of the ship before the quartermaster's eye detected his indistinct outline 

 against the snow. In crossing some very thin ice he broke through into the water, where 

 he was surrounded by yelping dogs. Hobson, Young, and Petersen, had each lodged a 

 bullet in him, but these only seemed to increase his rage. At length he got out of the 

 water, and would doubtless have demolished some of the dogs, when M'Clintock, with a 

 well-directed shot, put a bullet through his brain. The bear was a large one, and its 

 carcase fed the dogs for nearly a month. M'Clintock says : " For the few moments of 

 its duration the chase and death was exciting. And how strange and novel the scene ! 

 A misty moon affording but scanty light, dark figures gliding singly about, not daring 

 to approach each other, for the ice trembled under their feet, the enraged bear, the wolfish, 

 howling dogs, and the bright flashes of the deadly rifles." 



About this period, and while the weather was reasonably fair, unearthly noises were 

 heard under the ice, and alarming disruptions occurred close to the ship. Of one of the 

 former occasions M'Clintock writes : " A renewal of ice-crushing within a few hundred 

 yards of us ; I can hear it in my bed. The ordinary sound resembles the roar of distant 

 surf breaking heavily and continuously ; but when heavy masses come in collision with 

 much impetus it fully realises the justness of Dr. Kane's descriptive epithet, ' ice artil- 

 lery/ Fortunately for us, our poor little Fox is well within the margin of a stout old floe ; 

 we are therefore undisturbed spectators of ice-conflicts which would be irresistible to any- 

 thing of human construction. Immediately about the ship all is still, and, as far as 

 appearances go, she is precisely as she would be in a secure harbour, housed all over, 

 banked up with snow to the gunwales. In fact, her winter plumage is so complete 

 that the masts alone are visible/' 



Whenever it was possible to employ or amuse the men among these dreary scenes 

 M'Clintock was most desirous that it should be done. Dr. Walker's school was a 

 genuine success, and the rather old school-boys most diligent in their studies, which 

 were at first confined to the three R's reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic. Later, how- 

 ever, lectures and readings were organised, and subjects adapted to interest the crew, 

 such as the trade winds, the atmosphere, the uses of the thermometer, barometer, and 

 so forth, were chosen. Healthful exercise was afforded to the men in banking up the 

 ship with snow. On November 5th, says M'Clintock, " in order to vary our monoto- 

 nous routine, we determined to celebrate the day." Extra grog was issued, and one of 

 Lady Franklin's thoughtful presents, in the shape of preserved plum-pudding, helped to 

 mark the occasion. In the evening a procession was organised, and the crew sallied 

 forth, with drum, gong, and discord, to burn a huge effigy of Guy Fawkes upon the ice. 

 " Their blackened faces, extravagant costumes, glaring torches, and savage yells, frightened 



