58 MY ARCTIC JOURNAL 



jerk (which proved to come from an animal Ikwa had har- 

 pooned) she was righted, and we were skimming over the 

 water, through the new ice, towed by the harpooned walrus. 

 This performance lasted at least twenty minutes, during which 

 time the boys kept up a constant volley at the walrus that 

 besieged us on every side to revenge their wounded com- 

 panions. There were at least two hundred and fifty around 

 us at one time, and it seemed as if it would be impossible to 

 keep the animals from attacking us ; but by steady firing 

 we managed to hold them at oar's length. This kept me 

 busy reloading the rifles. I thought it about an even chance 

 whether I would be shot or drowned. 



I cannot describe my feelings when these monsters sur- 

 rounded us, their great tusks almost touching the boat, and 

 the bullets whistling about my ears in every direction. When- 

 ever a volley of shots greeted them, the whole bunch jumped 

 into the air and then plunged under water, leaving us in doubt 

 as to where they would reappear. If they should happen to 

 come up under the boat, we should probably be the ones to 

 take the plunge ; this uncertainty was very exciting, especially 

 as the brutes went down and came up in bunches, leaving us 

 seventy-five or a hundred to fight while the rest plunged. 



Ikwa had evidently never seen so many " awick " at one 

 time, and became very much frightened, finally pounding the 

 sides of the boat with his harpoon and yelling at the top of 

 his voice, in which he was joined by Matt. When we finally 

 got out of the turmoil we had four heads with tusks, and would 



