LAND AT LAST 403 



it with the current. We thought they would at last 

 swim to land to look for their mother, and that we must 

 wait ; we therefore hid ourselves among the stones, so 

 that they should not be afraid of coming on our account. 

 We could still hear them complaining, but the sound 

 became more and more distant, and they grew smaller 

 and smaller out there on the blue waves, till at last it 

 was all we could do to distinguish them as two white 

 dots far out upon the dark plain. W^e had long been 

 tired of this, and went to our kayaks. But here a sad 

 sight met our eyes. All the walrus flesh which we had 

 brouo-ht home with so much trouble lav scattered about 

 on the shore, torn and mano-led ; and everv bit of fat or 

 blubber to be found on it had been devoured. The 

 bears must have been rummaging finely here while we 

 slept. One of the kayaks in which the meat had been 

 lying was thrown half into the water, the other high up 

 among the stones. The bears had been right into them 

 and dragged out the meat ; but, fortunately, they were 

 none the worse, so it was easy to forgive the bears, and 

 we benefited by the exchange of bear's flesh for walrus 

 flesh. 



We then launched the kayaks, and put off to chase 

 the young ones to land. As soon as ever they saw us on 

 the water they became uneasy, and while we were still 

 some way off one of them took to the water. The other 

 hesitated for a while, as if afraid of the water, while the 

 first waited impatiently ; but at last they both went in. 



