The White Czar: A Story of a Polar Bear

by Clarence Hawkes

But the White Czar had also never heard of a lasso, and when he reared his head above the water, a rawhide rope fell fairly over his head. In another second it had tightened upon his neck with a strangling grip.

He clutched at it with his great paws and tried to loosen it, but could not. So he swam straight at his assailants, his long tongue lolling out, and his mighty jaw open ready for the fatal bite.

But the strange fish was not slower than the white bear, for the man at the helm saw their danger and pulled the throttle wide open. His action was not a second too quick, for the great bear was almost upon the boat before it had gained headway.

Yet it just eluded him and in a very few seconds had put the length of the rawhide rope between him and his tormentors.

Then began a series of tiring-out manœuvers that made Eiseeyou's heart ache. More than once he brushed away the tears and set his thoughts firmly upon little Oumauk who was living in the long night. They must all make sacrifices for him. It was just and right that the White Czar should be sacrificed.

They did not give the great bear a moment in which to rest. For hours they dragged him about mercilessly at the end of the rawhide. If he stopped swimming after them, they came close and prodded him with a harpoon and aroused his anger. Soon they had two rawhide ropes about his great neck, and this spelled his doom.

He lashed the water into foam. He roared and struck with his paws. He bit at and fought the ropes about his neck which were slowly choking him, with his great strength, but it was a foe he could not get at. It always ran away, it taunted and mocked him.

It prodded and choked him and gradually it wore him down to a helpless mass of quivering muscles, with the heart and the fight all gone out of him.

It seemed to poor Eiseeyou during this terrible ordeal that the bear kept his eyes constantly fixed on him. It seemed to him that the great brute was accusing him, was imploring him, was appealing to him to save him. But he had given his word to help, and he could do nothing.