690 APPENDIX 



to tell me. He and I started off in pursuit. The condition 

 of the ice was good, and we made rapid progress ; but as we 

 had the wind on our side, it was some time before we could 

 distinguish the barking of the dogs so as to be able to guide 

 ourselves by it. Presently I caught sight of one of the dogs be- 

 hind a small ridge ; soon I saw some more, and at last I sighted 

 the bears. They were both sitting on a floe in the channel, 

 leaning with their backs against a big piece of ice. Two of the 

 dogs had jumped out upon the floe, while the others stood on 

 guard round the channel or pool. The dogs had played their 

 part well, keeping such a close watch upon the bears that we 

 had no dii^culty in giving them their quietus. They both tum- 

 bled over on the spot ; but as they moved slightly, we gave 

 them a final shot, just to make sure. 



Well, there they lay. But to get out to them was not so 

 easy. Finally, having walked round the pool, we succeeded in 

 getting out upon the floe from the other side, where the dis- 

 tance from the solid ice was less and where some small floes 

 formed a kind of bridge. We cleaned the game, and then 

 tried to haul the bodies over upon the solid ice. This we ac- 

 complished by putting a running noose over the muzzles of the 

 bears and pulling them through the water to the edge of the 

 ice, where we pushed some small floes beneath them ; and then, 

 with our united strength, we hauled them up. When home- 

 ward bound we met Nordahl, Pettersen, Bentzen, Henriksen, 

 and the mate, who had guessed from the report of our guns 

 that there was business on hand, and had started out to meet 

 us with sledges and harness for the dogs. The sledges were 

 lashed together, one bear was placed on each, and, with nine 

 dogs harnessed to them and a man sitting astride each bear, off 

 they went at such a speed that the rest of us had to run to keep 

 pace with them. 



On the night of June 24th we again received a visit from 

 two bears. Nordahl discovered them when, at 12 o'clock, he went 

 out to the observation-house ; he came running back, and called 

 those who had not yet gone to bed. But when they hurried out 

 upon the ice the bears saw them immediately and disappeared. 



