484 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



A piece of news told by Herman that might have been of mo- 

 ment concerned Hadley. He had undertaken, among other things, 

 the work of keeping the meteorological records, and he used to go 

 out at eight o'clock in the morning with a lantern to read the wind 

 gauge that was posted on the top of a neighboring hill. Hadley's 

 favorite dog was Hans. Hans and Hadley were the only survivors 

 of the Karluk in the northern section of our expedition. It was 

 the way of Hans every morning to meet Hadley at the front door 

 and go with him to the observatory at the top of the hill. He was 

 the only dog allowed to be loose, the rest being in a barn where 

 each had its own stall. This morning, which was dark with clouds 

 as well as through absence of daylight, there was no Hans to meet 

 Hadley at the door. This gave Hadley so much concern that in- 

 stead of going to the observatory he began looking for the dog, 

 calling him by name as he started to walk around the house to 

 see if he might be lying in the lee of it. He had taken only a 

 few steps when he almost walked into a polar bear that had risen 

 on its hind legs to meet him. 



I got the story later from Hadley himself, who told me that 

 without any thought of which he was conscious he swung the lan- 

 tern and hit the bear on the nose, shattering the ^lass, putting out 

 the light and probably spattering the bear with kerosene. Then he 

 turned and ran for the house without knowing how the bear re- 

 ceived a surprise which was probably as great to him as it was to 

 Hadley. Hadley should have gone in quietly either to get his rifle 

 or to remain till the bear had a chance to get away. But instead he 

 did the impulsive thing, shouting out that there was a bear outside 

 the door, whereupon everybody scrambled for some sort of weapon 

 and rushed out after the bear. 



Hadley got out first, saw the bear momentarily conspicuous as 

 he was going down over a cutbank towards the beach, and fired as 

 he disappeared a shot that seems to have broken the bear's shoul- 

 der. When he got to the top of the cutbank the bear was down 

 on the ice and Hadley fired again but without hitting. He realized 

 that the bear was wounded and ran after him, firing occasionally 

 although he could scarcely make out his position. After five or 

 six shots he found his rifle empty, then exchanged rifles with Levi 

 who was running next behind him, asking whether Levi's rifle was 

 loaded and receiving an affirmative answer. Just then the bear 

 ceased fleeing and turned to charge his pursuers. Thinking that 

 he would be able to place a shot effectively, Hadley waited calmly 



