Arctic Adventures
Page 16
What wasmy horror to see it seize the mate by the body and scamper off with him.We all fired, but dared not aim at the animal's head, believing thatthe mate was still alive, for fear of killing him. I stopped to reload,as did Ewen.
"After him, lads," shouted Sandy, but the bear was far too fleet for usto overtake, and to our grief and dismay disappeared with his victimbehind the rocks to the northward.
We searched in vain for our companion. Though we traced the way thebear had gone by the crimson stains on the white snow, it convinced usthat the poor mate was killed. To follow further would have beenuseless. With sad hearts we returned to our tent, almost frozen by thecold blast, to spend the most melancholy night we had yet passed.
We had now to settle on our future proceedings. Sandy had become theleader of the party. He proposed returning to the ship, but none of uswished to be left behind, and preferred rather to undergo the toils andrisks of the journey than to remain on shore. But of this Sandy wouldnot hear. He declared that he could go very well with only one of us,and that the other three by remaining--I acting as officer--could managewell enough by ourselves.
At last I gave in, and Sandy with the seaman set off as soon as the windhad abated. We watched them as they made their way over the plain ofice, their forms diminishing into mere dots, then finally disappearing.We in the meantime were working away to complete our hut and to renderit as habitable as possible. The flesh of the bear we had killedafforded us an ample supply of food, while the fat served to increaseour stock of fuel. There was probably drift-wood on the shore, butexcept a few pieces which stuck up above the snow, we could obtain none.We took care of every scrap we could find, not to burn, but tomanufacture into such articles as we might require. In the crevices ofthe rocks we discovered some low creeping plants which in any otherregion would have been bushes, but were here a mere collection of twigs,no thicker than our little fingers, just appearing above the ground. Weagreed that each should take certain duties, and it was settled thatCroil should stay at home and look after the hut, employing himself ineither cooking or scraping the bear's skin to make it fit for use as acovering. Should we kill a sufficient number of bears, we intended tofasten the skins of some of them together so as to form a roof to ourhut, while others would make great-coats or bed coverings.
Soon after Sandy and his companion had departed, Ewen and I took ourguns both for the sake of exercise and to try and shoot bears,reindeers, or musk oxen which we thought it possible might be found inthat region. We were not aware that the latter animals had migratedsouthward by that time, or indeed that they were likely to be found onlyon level ground where the depth of the snow was not sufficient toprevent them from getting at the moss or lichens beneath. I wasthankful to have Ewen as my companion. He had greatly improved since hecame on board and showed that he possessed qualities which I did notbefore suspect, so that I felt for him as I should for a brother. Theatmosphere had become calm and comparatively warm though the snowremained hard and crisp.
Ewen and I kept under the cliffs and were tempted to make our way muchfurther south than we had hitherto gone, in the hopes of discoveringsome opening into the interior of the country. We at last reached apart of the cliffs where, though very rugged, they were less precipitousthan in other parts. The sun was sinking behind them, but we still hadabundance of daylight for exploring. Ewen offered to climb to the topin the hopes of obtaining an extensive view and perhaps of finding levelground where we should have the chance of finding deer or oxen. Therewas no reason why we should both run the risk, for a risk there was,though a slight one.
"Let me make the attempt alone, while you remain below, and point out tome the best path to take," he said.
I did not much like to do this, but he declared that if I insisted ongoing he would give up the expedition. As I saw the sense of hisproposal, I consented, and he commenced climbing up, rifle in hand. Hehad gone some distance when I saw a creature creeping along the rocksabove his head, and directly afterwards, as it came more into sight, Isaw that it was a huge bear. I shouted to him, to draw his attention toit, should he not have discovered the animal. He stopped and began todescend to a position from whence he could take a steady aim at themonster, should it come within his reach. What was my horror directlyafterwards to see two other bears crawling out from among the rocks bywhich they had hitherto been concealed, evidently having discovered him.It seemed impossible that he should escape. I shouted to him, when heagain began clambering up the rock. To my dismay, as he did so thefirst bear crawled down and seated itself on a point so as to intercepthim.
The two other creatures got closer and closer with the evident intentionof seizing him. I trembled for his safety, and hurried to the nearestspot from which I could take a steady aim.
"Never mind the fellow above you," I shouted. "If you will shoot theere nearest to you, I will manage the other, and we will then tackle thethird if he attempts to come down."
I could well enter into Ewen's feelings. It was surprising, in theperilous position in which he was placed, that he should have retainedany presence of mind.
Following my advice, he sat himself down on the rock and took aim,waiting until I should fire.
"Now!" I cried, and we both pulled our triggers at the same moment.
I own that I trembled lest either one or both of us might miss, in whichcase it seemed impossible that he should escape destruction. As thesmoke cleared away from before my eyes, I saw the bears in motion, butinstead of advancing they both fell back and came tumbling down thecliff close to where I was standing. I rapidly loaded, as did Ewen. Wehad still another antagonist to contend with, whom he must tackle alone,for I could not help him.
Just as I expected to see the bear crawling down the rocks to seize myfriend, to my infinite satisfaction, the creature, alarmed by thereports, turned tail and began clambering up the cliff.
I shouted to Ewen not to shoot, as, should he only wound the bear, itmight in its rage turn and attack him. I also had to look after one ofthe others, who though wounded, was not dead, and recovering from itsfall, was looking about apparently for the foe who had injured it. Onespying me it began to advance, growling furiously. As blood wasflowing from behind its shoulder, I hoped that it might soon drop, butin the meantime it might tear me to pieces, and perhaps treat Ewen inthe same way. To run from a bear is at all times very dangerous, unlessto gain protection of some sort at no great distance; for the bear--clumsy as it looks--can run much faster than a man. I, therefore,having reloaded my rifle, stood with it ready to send a shot through theanimal's head. I waited until the wounded bear was almost close uponme, and I could not refrain from uttering a shout of satisfaction as itrolled over perfectly dead. Ewen in the meantime, approaching theother, had finished it by firing a bullet through its head.
"I wish that we had the sledge to take home the meat and skins,"observed Ewen, "but we must carry as much as we can."
Our fear was that, should we leave the meat, other bears, of whom thereappeared to be a whole colony in the neighbourhood, would come anddevour it. We managed to get off the skins, which were likely to provemost valuable to us; and, loaded with them and a portion of the meat, wereturned to the hut, where we found Croil anxiously looking out for us.He too, had seen a couple of bears moving across the bay, and was afraidthat we might have been attacked by them, and suffered the fate of thepoor mate.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
We now waited in anxious expectation for the arrival of our shipmates,but they did not appear. The days were getting shorter, the nightslonger. The cold was increasing. Often and often we gazed out over theice. As far as we could judge no change had taken place in it. A vastsnow-covered plain, with here and there mountainous heights of ice couldbe seen extending as far as the horizon. Unfortunately we had notbrought a telescope, or we thought that we might have discovered ourfriends. At length we began to entertain the most serious apprehensionsas to their fate.
We had one evening turned in, an
d, having closed the door of the hut,had lighted our lamp and composed ourselves to sleep, when Ewen rousedme up.
"I heard a shout!" he exclaimed, "they must be coming."
We slipped into our day clothing, and hurried out, carrying our riflesin our hands, for we never moved without them.
Again there was a shout: we replied to it with all our might. Some onewas evidently approaching. More clearly to show our position, I firedoff my rifle, and sent Croil in to light a small piece of drift-wood theonly thing we possessed to serve as a torch. Again and again weshouted: at length we caught sight through the gloom of night of somedark spots moving over the snow.
"Hurrah!" cried Ewen, "there are our shipmates!" Soon after he hadspoken I discovered three of the dogs dragging the sledge and two menfollowing them. The one was Sandy, the other Hans the seaman.
Hurrying forward we led them up to the hut. Sandy could scarcely