BJORNESUND AND ULVEFJORD. 243 



' Svartflekken ' behaved splendidly, for he no longer had to plunge 

 in loose snow far up his sides. 



I then let go my other five, and things began to be lively in 

 earnest. Snaps and tugs at ' Bainsen's ' coat from all sides, and 

 blows and snarls in answer. But the bear was hard pressed ; it 

 sat itself down on the bank on its haunches, with its back to the 

 river, and sparred at the dogs. I then sent a bullet into the thick 

 of them, which brought the game to a sudden end. The bear fell 

 backwards over the bank, and the last I saw of it was its hind- 

 legs in the air. I then took the dogs back to the sledge, and 

 drove it up to the battle-field, along with Schei, whose team had 

 not been able to keep up. 



We camped up on the sand-ridge, and began on the skinning 

 and feeding. The fallen animal was a she-bear in its prime, and 

 fairly fat. This time we were not done out of our black pudding ; 

 we had it for supper, and delicious it was. We cut off a large 

 lump of the excellent tender meat, so that we should have some- 

 thing from which to cut and come again, and gave the dogs 

 sufficient to keep them eating all night if they liked. 



No sooner had we turned in than a wind got up, and it was 

 soon blowing hard from the south-west; but in the morning it 

 had dropped again, and there was warm sunshine. 



With the course on Hyperitodden we drove across Ulvefjord 

 in loose, heavy going drifted snow of the most deceptive kind. 

 At one minute it would bear, at the next let the dogs through, 

 and there they would lie swimming, unable to move from the spot. 

 And the sun ! Towards midday it was about as much as we could 

 stand. We stripped off garment after garment, and still we could 

 hardly bear it. We grew so desperately lazy at last that we made 

 up our minds to have a good noonday rest. The dogs would enjoy 

 this, too ; for all the feeding at the last camp had made them 

 unwilling to work. We had such a good supply of oil that we 

 were not obliged to economize it in cooking, so we lighted the 

 ' Primus ' and made ourselves a goodly portion of chocolate. 



The going was variable as we drove on along the west shore 

 towards Hyperitodden. There we fell in with some pressed-up 

 ice, but found a passable way through it along by the crack. 



