THE WORLD* S WONDERS. 715 



now caiue for him. Getting in the hut he put another cartridge 

 in, and placing two reserves in his vest pocket, crept out again, 

 getting a position where he could see the animal, although it was 

 what might be called quite dark. The bear saw him, too, and 

 again faced him ; but this time, to Tyson's joy and his sorrow, 

 the rifle-ball went straight to its mark. Joe now came out of the 

 men's hut, and cracked both a rifle and pistol at him. The bear 

 ran about two rods, and fell dead. On skinning him in the morn- 

 ing, they found that the ball had entered the left shoulder, passed 

 through the heart, and out at the other side a lucky shot in the 

 dark! 



Several other bears and seals were killed about this time, so 

 that there was no longer a lack of food, such as it was. 



Joe and Hans, the Esquimau hunters, had quite a contest, 

 one day, with a large bear on the ice, which they finally killed 

 with their spears, in native fashion. This is accomplished by 

 approaching close to the animal, and as it rears up to strike with 

 its paws, a sudden thrust of the spear into some vital part soon 

 ends the contest. But it is exceedingly dangerous sport, for the 

 bear frequently knocks the spear out of the hunter's hands, or 

 breaks it with a blow of his huge paw, and then the fate of the 

 poor hunter is -sealed. 



Food 'was now in abundance ; but new dangers arose, for as 

 they drifted into a warmer temperature, the ice began to break 

 up, and they were in constant dread of their lives from drowning. 

 They had one boat left, the other having been broken up for 

 fuel, but a small boat could not live many minutes amid the 

 crushing and grinding cakes of ice tossed by an angry sea, as 

 they had to leap and scramble from one floe to another, the one 

 they were drifting on sometimes breaking at their feet. 



This dreadful state of affairs continued so long that the food 

 supply again ran short, there being no opportunity to recruit it. 

 April 15th and 16th Tyson made the following entry in his 

 journal : 



" Some of the men have dangerous looks ; this hunger is dis- 

 turbing their brains. I cannot but fear that they contemplate 



