186 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
out over the water, but with the dogs huddled in the 
middle and ourselves paddling on either side we 
managed to get along and landed safely on the 
other shore. 
About five we stopped to camp for the night. I 
was engaged in brushing the snow off the sleeping- 
robes and Kataktovick was cutting out snow- 
blocks for the igloo when suddenly he shouted. I 
looked up and saw right beside us the largest polar 
bear I have ever seen. I seized the rifle and fired. 
The first shot missed but the second hit him in the 
fore-shoulder and the third in the hind-quarter 
and down he went. As he fell he stretched out 
his four paws and I had a chance to get a good 
idea of his length; I should judge that he was 
twelve or thirteen feet from tip to tip. His hair 
was snow white and very long but not very thick; 
evidently he was old. I cut off a hind-quarter— 
all we could carry—to take along with us the next 
day; we ate some of the meat—raw, because we had 
no time to cook it—and made a broth out of another 
piece by boiling it in water, made by melting the 
snow, just as we made our tea. We gave the dogs 
all they could eat. They had not noticed the bear; 
they were too tired. Evidently he had come upon 
the place where we had cut up the seal we had 
killed the day before and had followed the scent all 
day. 
