BEARS AND POLAR OXEN. 



159 



they went like rockets. I followed them as well as I was able, 

 but I soon saw that I should make better progress on the fjord-ice, 

 and so went down on to it again. A few minutes later the dogs 

 brought the bear to bay ; she had chased her cubs into a pool in 

 the crack, where they were now swimming about. She thought, of 

 course, that she was about to make very short work of the dogs, 

 and attacked them over and over again. She had reckoned without 

 her host, however; though ' Svartflekken,' who invariably came to 



FROM SCHEl'S JOURNEY. A SHELTERED CAMPING-GROUND. (Seep. 150.) 



grief on such occasions, was no more fortunate this time than 

 usual. The bear managed to get hold of his harness, and pawed 

 him under her ; but as soon as the other five saw what she was 

 doing, they all set on her, tearing and dragging at her hair with 

 such fury that she was glad to let the dog go. 'Svartflekken' 

 was not at all ashamed of himself, as Simmons remarked, and was 

 no sooner on his legs again than he was clinging to the bear like 

 a horsefly. 



Schei dropped the dam with two shots, and Simmons and 

 Bay each shot a cub ; they were swimming about in the pool, 

 growling at us. Then the two men went off to fetch their dogs. 



