CLOSE QUARTERS. 
38D 
teeth, and was making off. It was time to close, I 
thought. Going up within half pistol-range, I gave 
her six buckshot. She dropped, but instantly rose, 
and, getting her cub into its former position, moved 
off once more. 
“This time she would really have escaped but for 
the admirable tactics of our new recruits from the 
Esquimaux. The dogs of Smith’s Sound are educated 
more thoroughly than any of their more southern 
brethren. Next to the walrus, the bear is the staple 
of diet to the north, and, except the fox, supplies the 
most important element of the wardrobe. Unlike the 
dogs we had brought with us from Baffin’s Bay, these 
were trained not to attack, but to embarrass. They 
ran in circles round the bear, and when pursued would 
keep ahead with regulated gait, their comrades effect¬ 
ing a diversion at the critical moment by a nip at her 
hind-quarters. This was done so systematically and 
with so little seeming excitement as to strike every 
one on board. I have seen bear-dogs elsewhere that 
had been dialled to relieve each other in the melde and 
avoid the direct assault; but here, two dogs 'without 
even a demonstration of attack would put themselves 
before the path of the animal, and, retreating right 
and left, lead him into a profitless pursuit that checked 
his advance completely. 
“The poor animal was still backing out, yet still 
fighting, carrying along her wounded cub, embarrassed 
by the dogs yet gaining distance from the brig, when 
Hans and myself threw in the odds in the shape of a 
