HUNTING FOR WINTER FOOD. 343 



nothing but an indication of where I was. I therefore lay quite 

 still, with my linger on the trigger, ready to use my last shot at 

 the extreme moment, when the bear should be on the top of me. 



' And that this was what would happen I had not the slightest 

 doubt, for in one of its rounds it came close up on my left side, 

 and was then about eight feet away. It turned straight towards 

 me, and I had not even time to bring the barrel of my gun over 

 in its direction. But happily it met one of the guy-ropes, and 

 this slight hindrance it evidently would not overstep, for it again 

 changed its direction and ran down to the meat-stack. 



' This was its last circular tour, for my shot seemed suddenly 

 to have an effect. Followed by its young ones, and leaving behind 

 it a broad stripe of blood, it now rushed down across the ice-foot, 

 which was quite under water from the spring tides, and went to 

 sea, swimming southwards. It was not long, however, before it 

 again lay in to land, and after that I continually heard its whim- 

 pering, and the whining of the cubs, a couple of hundred yards 

 away; but to see anything was impossible. All this had happened 

 inconceivably quickly, so that I had not even had time to fire my 

 second shot before the bears made off. I then reloaded the rifle 

 barrel, disentangled myself from the hook in the tent-door, got up, 

 and looked round me, but could distinguish nothing. I thereupon 

 went into the tent, and put on a few more clothes. It must have 

 been about half-past eleven when I first heard " Susamel " 

 screaming outside. 



' I could hear the bears in the same place all the time, and I 

 went some steps in that direction. But as I hoped they would 

 stay where they were until it was light, I gave up looking for them 

 in the dark, and sat down in front of the tent-door with my back 

 to the tent-pole and my gun clear. 



' It was rather a long night. The old bear's wailing soon died 

 away, but whining and growling still went on in the same place. 

 At half-past one the two whelps came out on to the ice-foot abeam 

 the tent, but there they winded me, and ran back again without 

 my getting a shot at them. I still sat there for some time, and 

 waited ; but I grew cold, and thought I would go into the tent. 

 1 stood up first, however, and looked round. I then saw an old 



