THE NEW YEAR. i8g6 ATJ 



behind the hut. Then I heard a snortino; and blowing, 

 and off went the brute in a clumsy bear's gallop up the 

 slope. I did not know whether to shoot or not, and, to 

 tell the truth, I had little inclination for bear-skinnine 

 in this bitter weather ; but half at random I sent a shot 

 after it, which of course missed, and I was not sorry. I 

 did not shoot again ; the one shot was enough to frighten 

 it, and keep it from coming again for the present ; we 

 did not want it, if only it would leave our things in peace. 

 At the cleft to the north it looked back, and then went 

 on. As usual it had come against the wind, and must 

 have scented us far west upon the ice. It had made 

 several tacks to leeward to us, had been at the entrance 

 of the hut, where it had left a visiting-card, and had then 

 gone straight to a mound at the back of us, where there 

 is some walrus blubber, surrounded on all sides by bears' 

 carcasses. These had no terrors for it. The bearskin 

 which covered it, it had dragged a long way, but fort- 

 unately it had not succeeded in getting anything eaten 

 before I came. 



" Sunday, May 3d. When Johansen came in this 

 morning he said he had seen a bear out on the ice ; it 

 was coming in. He went out a little later to look for it, 

 but did not see it ; it had probably gone into the bay to 

 the north. We expected a visit from it, however, as the 

 wind was that way ; and as we sat later in the day, sew- 

 ing as hard as we could sew, we heard heavy footsteps 

 on the snow outside. They stopped, went backward and 



