HOW WE HUNT POLAR BEARS 297 



back south to the base camp of our expedition in Banks 

 Island. The spot where the story happened was on the 

 sea ice twenty or thirty miles away from land and about 

 seven hundred miles north of the arctic circle. 



"Of all my hunting experiences extending over a period 

 of six and a half years spent within the arctic circle, th« 

 most exciting was an encounter with a polar bear. Out- 

 side of parks and zoological gardens, it was the first I had 

 ever seen at close range. The incident happened on one 

 of my journeys with Stefansson. We had discovered new 

 land in Latitude 80 C N., Longitude 100 °W., and were 

 returning over the ice to our base camp some four hun- 

 dred and fifty miles to the southward. 



"One night just after we had pitched our tent fifteen 

 yards from an open lead and after the Commander and I 

 had gone inside, Charlie Andersen, the third member of 

 our party, was about to follow us when he noticed some- 

 thing white moving in the water of the lead about two 

 hundred yards from our tent. He thought at first that 

 it was a piece of drifting ice ; but when it began to move 

 too rapidly for that, he picked up his binoculars to see 

 what it really was. As he was focusing them upon the 

 object it disappeared beneath the surface of the water, 

 reappearing a little nearer to our camp. Charlie now saw 

 that it was no chunk of ice but the head of a swimming 

 polar bear. 



"When Charlie called to us that a bear was swimming in 

 the lead about two hundred yards away, I rushed out 

 instantly. But the Commander was used to polar bears 

 and did not get so excited. He put on his boots in a 

 leisurely way before coining out and then stationed him- 



