216 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



excepting in case of being in want of the necessaries for 

 existence. I have had one pilfered in the barrens of New- 

 foundland of tea and sugar, raisins, chocolate and such 

 luxuries, the necessaries, flour and hard tack, being left un- 

 touched. Were the man found who did this, his life would be 

 made a burden to him through the breadth of Newfoundland. 



But to come back to our ice-bears. I have lately, and at 

 other times, heard many stories about them, and the more 

 I see of them the more do I believe about their strength, and 

 timidity, their fierce courage, and docility. One bear does 

 one thing, the next the opposite. One dies with two or three 

 bullets whilst running away, the next eats them up, advancing 

 to the attack. 



Gisbert's closest contact, bar the occasion before mentioned 

 with the young bear, was quite exciting and unexpected. 

 He left the ship one day to verify the height of a mountain 

 in Franz Josef Land, which he had previously calculated 

 from sea went up a steep ice-fall with ski in tow and got 

 to near the top, when a fierce gale, with snow, started. 

 Following the bear's plan, he looked for a hole to slip into, 

 found such a shelter, and crawled in. By the faint blue light 

 coming through the ice roof and sides of the cave he dis- 

 covered a great bear, with its black nose resting on its folded 

 paws and its dark eyes looking at him with a kindly ex- 

 pression. He did not trust the expression, but, keeping his 

 eyes steadily on the bear's, he gently pulled his rifle forward, 

 and without lifting it, with his thumb pushed back the 

 safety bolt, and slowly brought forward the muzzle to the 

 bear's ear and pulled, and so Gisbert lived to tell the tale. 

 It sounds a moderately tall story, but after many others 

 I have heard, and even from what I have seen lately, it does 

 not sound so wonderful as it may to one who has not been at 

 " this end of the garden." When the gale blew over, some 

 of the crew came up to his signal, and three all told, slid 

 down the slope on the white bear's body, at the foot it was, 

 of course, deprived of its skin ; when you think of it, the 

 whole proceeding seems rather hard on the bear. 



Another bear yarn I heard from my friend Henriksen, 

 whom I have written about in previous chapters on our 



