238 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



their feet, came up and attempted to drive them in 

 again, but they completely got the better of him, 

 and compelled him to make a precipitate retreat to 

 the masthead for security. They then added insult 

 to injury, and still farther embittered the cook's 

 feelings by devouring great part of a haunch of fat 

 venison which was hanging on deck ready for din- 

 ner. Finally, and we may suppose after a facetious 

 grin at the cook aloft, they clambered over the side 

 and swam ashore. Their triumph, however, was 

 not of long duration, for the rest of the crew acci- 

 dentally met them coolly traveling along the shore 

 in the evening; and although at first they were 

 nearly shooting them for wild bears, at last it oc- 

 curred to them, from there being no old one with 

 them, that they were their young shipmates trying 

 to escape; so they pursued and recaptured them, 

 but not until after a most severe struggle, in the 

 course of which one or two of the men got severely 

 bitten by the young demons, who had now grown 

 much too big and strong to be handled with im- 

 punity. 



We determined to have one more last look at the 

 edge of the main ice pack to the northeast, as the 

 weather was so fine that we thought we might still 

 pick up a sea-horse or two. Both yacht and sloop 

 sailed in company at midnight, steering for Black 

 Point. A howling gale of northeasterly wind came 

 on early in the morning, but the "Ginevra," in 

 which we still continued, easily beat up against it, 



