294 
THE HUNT. 
Morton’s report. The bear fled; but the little one 
being unable either to keep ahead of the dogs or to 
keep pace with her, she turned back, and, putting her 
head under its haunches, threw it some distance ahead. 
The cub safe for the moment, she would wheel round 
and face the dogs, so as to give it a chance to run 
away; but it always stopped just as it alighted, till 
she came up and threw it ahead again: it seemed to 
expect her aid, and would not go on without it. 
Sometimes the mother would run a few yards ahead, 
as if to coax the young one up to her, and when the 
dogs came up she would turn on them and drive 
them back; then, as they dodged her blows, she would 
rejoin the cub and push it on, sometimes putting her 
head under it, sometimes catching it in her mouth by 
the nape of the neck. 
For a time she managed her retreat with great 
celerity, leaving the two men far in the rear. They 
had engaged her on the land-ice; but she led the dogs 
in-shore, up a small stony valley which opened into 
the interior. But, after she had gone a mile and a 
half, her pace slackened, and, the little one being jaded, 
she soon came to a halt. 
The men were then only half a mile behind; and, 
running at full speed, they soon came up to where the 
dogs were holding her at bay. The fight was now a 
desperate one. The mother never went more than two 
yards ahead, constantly looking at the cub. When the 
dogs came near her, she would sit upon her haunches 
and take the little one between her hind legs, fighting 
