

AN ARCTIC BEAR HUNT 



By FRANCIS LONG 



CRIMPS, bacon and sealskin stew, all in 

 small quantities, had been our bill-of-fare 

 for nearly a month; then we found there 

 was not a full round of rations left. 

 More than half of the men in camp were 

 incapable of work, but that mattered little, 

 for there was scarcely more to do than one or two could 

 easily take care of. We were constantly drowsy from the 

 steady cold, but could take but little sleep at a time; two 

 hours was all. Sleep was sweet, but in that lay our greatest 

 danger, save when it was found that our supply of the 

 shrimps and fresh sealskin was exhausted; then starvation 

 as well as death from over-sleep stared us in the face. So 

 it was that we took turns in keeping guard, that one might 

 be always awake and arouse the others at the end of every 



103 



