SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 573 



She had gripped one of the cubs by the throat, and wor- 

 ried it hke a mad thing, so that it was difficult to get her 

 away. The bears had gone very leisurely away from the 

 dogs, which dared not come to sufficiently close quarters 

 to use their teeth till the old she-bear had been wounded 

 and had fallen down. The bears, indeed, had acted in a 

 very suspicious manner. It seemed just as if the she- 

 bear had some deep design, some evil intent, in her mind, 

 if she could only have lured the dogs near enough to 

 her. Suddenly she halted, let the cubs go on in front, 

 sniffed a little, and then came back to meet the dogs, 

 who at the same time, as if at a word of command, all 

 turned tail and set off towards the west. It was then 

 that the first shot was fired, and the old bear tottered and 

 fell headlong, when immediately some of the dogs set to 

 and tackled her. One of the cubs then got its quietus, 

 while the other one was fired at and made off over the 

 ice with three dogs after it. They soon overtook it and 

 pulled it down, so that when Mogstad came up he was 

 obliged first of all to get the dogs off before he could 

 venture to shoot. It was a glorious slaughter, and by no 

 means unwelcome, for we had that very day eaten the 

 last remains of our last bear in the shape of meat- 

 cakes for dinner. The two cubs made lovely Christ- 

 mas pork. 



" In all probability these were the same bears whose 

 tracks we had seen before. Sverdrup and I had followed 

 on the tracks of three such animals on the last dav of 



