THE WINTER NIGHT 283 



was lying reading, in The Origin of Species, about the 

 struo^orle for existence, when I heard the dosfs out on the 

 ice making more noise than usual. I called into the 

 saloon that some one ought to go up and see if it was 

 bears they were barking at. Hansen went, and came 

 back immediately, saying that he believed he had seen 

 some large animal out in the dark. " Go and shoot it, 

 then." That he was quite ready to do, and went up 

 again at once, accompanied by some of the others. A 

 shot went off on deck above my head, then another; 

 shot followed shot, nine in all. Johansen and Henriksen 

 rushed down for more cartridges, and declared that the 

 creature was shot, it was roaring so horribly ; but so far 

 they had only indistinctly seen a large grayish - white 

 mass out there in the dark, moving about among the 

 dogs. Now they were going on to the ice after it. 

 Four of them set off, and not far away they really did 

 find a dead bear, with marks of two shots. It was a 

 young one. The old one must be at hand, and the dogs 

 were still barking loudly. Now they all felt sure that 

 they had seen two together, and that the other also 

 must be badly wounded. Johansen and Henriksen 

 heard it groaning in the distance when they were out 

 on the ice again afterwards to fetch a knife they had 

 left lying where the dead one had lain. The creature 

 had been dragged on board and skinned at once, before 

 it had time to stiffen in the cold. 



"Sunday, October 15th. To our surprise, the ice 



