422 FARTHEST NORTH 



sire to follow it in that direction, and thouQ-h the rano-e 

 was long I thought I must try it. First one shot; it 

 passed over. Then one more ; that hit. The bear 

 started, made several leaps, and then in anger struck 

 the ice until it broke, and the bear fell through. There 

 it lay, splashing and splashing and breaking the thin 

 ice with its weight as it tried to get out again. I was 

 soon beside it, but did not want to sacrifice aiiother 

 cartridge ; I had faint hopes, too, that it would manage 

 to get out of the water by itself, and thus save us the 

 trouble of dragging such a heavy animal out. I called 

 to fohansen to come with a rope, sledges, and knives, 

 and in the meantime I walked up and down waiting 

 and watching. The bear labored hard, and made the 

 opening in the ice larger and larger. It was wounded 

 in one of its fore-lee's, so that it could use onlv the 

 other, and the two hind-legs. It kept on taking hold 

 and pulling itself up. But no sooner had it got half 

 up than the ice gave way, and it sank down again. By 

 degrees its movements became more and more feeble, 

 till at last it only lay still and panted. Then came a 

 few spasms, its legs stiffened, its head sank down into 

 the water, and all was still. While I was walking up 

 and down I several times heard walruses round about, 

 as they butted holes in the ice and put their heads 

 through ; and I was thinking to myself that I should 

 soon have them here too. At that moment the bear 

 received a violent blow from beneath, pushing it to 



