228 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



in the foam and scrambled on to the floe and over very 

 rugged hummocks for a few yards, and put in a third shot, 

 which seemed to finish it, and Svendsen and two men hurried 

 on to get the body, for the ice was closing round us, but 

 they found it still breathing, so Gisbert and I, who were 

 keeping the boat off the floe-edge, backed in again, and with 

 difficulty handed the rifle to Svendsen, who put in another 

 bullet, and with a rope the three dragged it over the snow 

 towards the boat. It was a mighty drag even for the 

 distance of a hundred yards. Then we backed in again 

 through the surf at ice-edge and Svendsen and the men 

 struggled into the boat with the line, and we hurriedly pulled 

 and shoved off, for some heavy ice was closing round us, and 

 got out just in time, with the bear floating in tow. In the 

 rough water clear of ice, we managed, with another struggle 

 and without upsetting, to pull the bear on board and rowed 

 back to the ship, greatly rejoicing ! Just as we got it heaved 

 on board by the steam- winch, much to my relief, I spotted 

 the narwhals again and off we set, three pairs of oars rowing 

 hard, and as quickly as possible, the harpoon again in 

 place. 



I have been at the killing of much bigger whales, but this 

 spotted black-and-white fellow with the horn in his nose, 

 plus the bear, was to my mind as interesting a little hunt as 

 any. Sometimes a rabbit stalk is of more interest than that 

 of a deer ! A fine black-and-white-spotted fellow showed 

 with a great ivory unicorn, but out of shot. Then another, 

 more brown in colour, appeared, and Svendsen let drive. 

 The harpoon shot was excellent and very quick, away went 

 the line, I do not know for how many fathoms we passed 

 it aft and all hauled in and let out and hauled in again, 

 finally we came alongside the whale, with its circle of 

 splashing and foam, and it raised its tail, and we put in 

 a big bullet from the 475, which went from its stern to its 

 bow, and it collapsed instantly. It was a surprisingly 

 killing shot, for one bullet to kill the whale, and yet the 

 bear took three to stop it. We hove our line in short, and 

 set to work to tow the whale alongside and began to flense 

 it that is, to strip the blubber off the carcass and were 



