236 A YEAR WITH A WHALER 



The bear made too tempting a target for the 

 mate to resist, and he brought out his rifle and, 

 kneeling on the quarter-deck, he took steady aim 

 and fired. His bullet struck about two feet be- 

 hind the animal. He aimed again, but changed 

 his mind and lowered his gun. 



" No," he said, " that fellow's making too fine 

 a swim. I'll let him go." 



Cleaving the water with a powerful stroke, 

 the bear went streaking out of sight over the 

 horizon. It is safe to say that before its swim 

 ended the animal covered fifteen miles at the 

 lowest estimate, and possibly a much greater 

 distance. 



One moonlight night a little later, while we 

 were traveling under short sail with considerable 

 ice about, a whale blew a short distance to wind- 

 ward. I was at the wheel and Mr. Landers was 

 standing near me. " Blow! " breathed Mr. Lan- 

 ders softly. Suddenly the whale breached — we 

 could hear it distinctly as it shot up from a 

 narrow channel between ice floes. " There she 

 breaches!" said Mr. Landers in the same low 

 voice, with no particular concern. We thought 



