THE THIRD SUMMER 691 



Three days later a she-bear, with a young cub, came trotting 

 towards the vessel at noon. We burned some blubber in order 

 to attract them, but the bear was very cautious, and it was 

 some time before she approached to within 200 to 300 yards. 

 Then the mate could not restrain himself any longer and fired, 

 so the rest of us sent her a few shots at the same time, and she 

 fell after walking a few paces. Some of us took the " pram " 

 and pulled across to the place, as there was a wide channel be- 

 tween the bear and the vessel. The cub, poor thing, was a fine 

 little fellow, with almost perfectly white fur and a dark muzzle ; 

 it was about the size of one of our smallest dogs. When they 

 came up, he sat down on his mother's body, remained there 

 quite still, and seeming for the present to take matters calmly. 

 Henriksen put a strap around his neck, and when the mother 

 was conveyed to the channel he followed quite willingly, and 

 sat down on her back again wdien she was towed across. But 

 when, on arriving at the ship, he found he was to be separated 

 from his mother and brought on board, it was quite another 

 story. He resisted with all his strength, and was in a perfect 

 rage. He got worse when he was let loose under the com- 

 panion-hood on board. He carried on like a frenzied being, 

 biting, tearing, growling, and howling with wild rage, like a 

 veritable fiend, ceasing only as long as he was occupied in de- 

 vouring the pieces of meat thrown to him. Never have I seen 

 in any one creature such a combination of all the most sav- 

 age qualities of wild beasts as I found in this little monster. 

 And he was still quite a cub! In the evening I gave orders to 

 rid us of this unpleasant passenger, and Mogstad ended his days 

 with a well-aimed blow of the hatchet. 



For about a fortnight we saw no bears, but during the night 

 of July 1 2th we had a visit from three, one of which, after a hot 

 pursuit, was killed by Scott-Hansen, the mate, Nordahl, and 

 Bentzen. The dogs, too, did good service this time. The 

 other two bears sneaked off at the first shot, and were lost to 

 sight in the fog. 



On the evening of July i8th Mogstad and I shot a bear, 

 which we should hardly have got hold of but for the sagacity 



