20 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



for not being able to keep up with her, and this proved to be 

 the case ; for before noon an old she-bear, and what seemed to 

 be, from the tracks we afterwards saw, a three-parts-grown cub, 

 were ' nosing ' about some old seal carcases which, frozen into 

 stony hardness, were lying a few yards distant from the snow 

 wall surrounding the house. I crept up to them, but with an 

 overcast sky and no moon there was not light enough for a fair 

 aim, even at a few feet distance, so that the heavy balls from 

 the Paradox gun struck her too far back to stop her at once, 

 and with a low roar both she and the cub made off. 



For some way along the shore there was an open space, a 

 few feet in width, between the ice and rocks, caused by the rise 

 and fall of the tides, and we saw the phosphorescent light flash 

 up as the old bear struck the water in crossing it. The cub 

 kept along the shore-line, and the skipper and myself followed 

 his trail in deep snow until it ran on to the ice. As we 

 retraced our steps we saw a spurt of flame apparently about 

 a quarter of a mile away, near the Corpse Rocks ; but the 

 report of the rifle never reached us, being lost in the rending 

 and groaning of the ice, which was grinding its way out of the 

 Gat. This shot we found was fired by the mate, who was out 

 on the ice after the old bear, with whom he had evidently 

 come up, for we saw his rifle flash again and again, and had 

 just decided to go to him, dragging our smallest boat with us, 

 when the ice must have become jammed in the mouth of the 

 Gat, for it began to close again. We were soon up with him> 

 and did not stop to skin the bear, but dragged it head first over 

 the ice to the house. The mate had found her lying down, and 

 in twelve shots, two of which were miss-fires, had in the darkness 

 put six bullets into her, the last of which had pierced her heart. 

 She was in fair condition, although giving suck, but the stomach 

 was quite empty, save for an old reindeer moccasin which one 

 of the men had thrown away. One of my shots had almost 

 filled the abdominal cavity with torn entrails and debris, but, 

 with this terrible wound and a broken hind leg, the bear had 

 fought her way for more than a quarter of a mile through loose 



