The pack at once set off at a wild pace yelping with excitement. But when they came near enough to see who the quarry was, they experienced a sudden chill of their ardor. The White Czarina merely turned to snarl angrily at them, and then fled towards the land. She was too far away for the hunters to risk a shot, which might merely anger her; but they followed as fast as possible. Finally the trail led up a steep bank, ending at the mouth of a natural cave. So the three hunters and the dozen dogs finally came up, and all gathered about the entrance.
It was very dark and forbidding inside. It looked specially so as they had plainly seen the great bear enter. Eiseeyou tried to get the dogs to go in and rout out the bear but they slunk back, the hair standing erect on their backs. The taste that they had had of the white fury the week before had satisfied them.
The hunters fired several shots into the cave, but with no apparent effect. They had certainly found the temporary den of the great bear but this did not help them much. Night was coming on; so they seemed balked in their hunting for that day.
Eiseeyou then proposed to Tunkine that he go in and stir up the bear, but the latter said he had too many children to risk it. Tukshu said that he hadn't lost any bear and that his hide was worth more to him than several bearskins. There seemed nothing to do but to camp there for the night or return home. If they went back to Eskimo Town, the prize might escape. She might escape in the night, even if they watched.
Finally Eiseeyou, in a fit of daring for which he was celebrated, said he would go in. His friends tried to dissuade him, but his mind was made up. He posted his companions in readiness to shoot if he should be driven out and, rifle in hand, began crawling slowly into the dark cave.
At first he could see little, but finally he got his night eyes and could see that the cave led back underground for several rods. Just ahead of him was a narrow place which he did not like the looks of.
If Eiseeyou could have known that the great bear was standing behind one of the pillars of rock, waiting with upraised paw for him, he would have been even more fearful.