358 NEW LAND. 



The bear's position was a first-rate one. It had taken its 

 stand on a little plateau high up on a mountain crag ; this little 

 ledge was reached by a bridge not more than a good yard in 

 width, and there stood the bear, like Sven Dufva, ready with his 

 sledge-hammer to fell the first being that should venture across. 



Meanwhile Schei was climbing and scrambling in the snow 

 and stones without seeing the ' white 'un,' which was hidden from 

 him by the ground. His Majesty was not visible until Schei came 

 within a few feet of him, but then it was not long before a shot was 

 heard. The bear sank together, and a few seconds afterwards all 

 the dogs had thrown themselves on to it. It was very plain these 

 fellows had not been surfeited with bear- meat. They tugged and 

 pulled at the bear's coat, tearing tufts of hair out of it, and before 

 we knew what they were doing, had dragged the body to the edge 

 of the plateau, where it shot out over the precipice. The dogs stood 

 amazed, gazing down into the depths where the bear was falling 

 swiftly through the air but not alone, for on it, as large as life, 

 were two dogs, which had clung so fast to its hair, that they now 

 stood planted head to head, and bit themselves still faster to it 

 in order to keep their balance. I was breathless as I watched 

 this unexpected journey through the air. The next moment the 

 bear in its perpendicular fall would reach the projecting point 

 of rock, and my poor dogs it was a cruel revenge the bear 

 was taking on them! I should now have only three dogs left 

 in my team. 



The bear's body dashed violently against the rock, turned a 

 somersault out from the mountain wall and fell still farther, until 

 after falling a height of altogether at least a hundred feet, it reached 

 the slopes by the river, and was shot by the impetus right across 

 the river-ice and a good way up the other side. And the dogs ? 

 "When the bear dashed against the mountain they sprang up like 

 rubber balls, described a large curve, and with stiffened legs 

 continued the journey on their own account, falling with a loud 

 thud on to the hardly packed snow at the bottom of the valley. 

 But they were on their legs again in a moment, and set off as fast 

 as they could go across the river after the bear. Not many 

 minutes afterwards, the whole pack came running up ; but when 



