The journey was a very difficult one. High hummocks, deep snow-drifts, open cracks, severe winds were their embarrassments; and these are obstacles not to be encountered without danger, fatigue, and frost-bites.
A BEAR HUNT.
They had much trouble in getting out of Hartstene Bay, the water coming almost in to the land-ice. Once outside, however, they had an easy run up the coast to Fog Inlet, where one of the sledges broke down, and they came upon open cracks which they could not pass. After repairing the sledge as well as they were able, they turned their faces homeward. When a little way above Cape Hatherton, they struck the trail of a couple of bears; and, giving chase, the animals were overtaken and captured. They proved to be a mother and her cub.
Sonntag has given me a lively description of the chase. The bears were started from the margin of a ridge of hummocked ice where they had been sleeping; and they made at once for the open cracks outside, distant about four miles. As soon as the dogs discovered the trail, they dashed off upon it into the hummocks, without waiting to be directed by their drivers, and utterly regardless of the safety of the sledges or of the persons seated upon them. The hummocks were very high, and the passages between them rough and tortuous. Had the bears kept to them they might have baffled pursuit; for the progress of the sledges was much interrupted, and the track could not always be followed. But the ridge was not above a quarter of a mile in width, and the bears, striking directly across it, evidently preferred seeking safety beyond a crack, over which they could pass by swimming.
The first plunge into the hummocks was rather exciting. Jensen's team led the way, and Hans, following after, rushed up pell-mell alongside. Jensen's sledge was nearly capsized, and Sonntag rolled off in the snow; but he was fortunate enough to catch the upstander, and with its aid to recover his seat. The tangled ice greatly retarded the impatient dogs, bringing them several times almost to a stand; but their eagerness and their drivers' energy finally triumphed over all obstacles, and they emerged at length, after much serious embarrassment, upon a broad and almost level plain, where for the first time the game came in view.
The delay of the sledges in the hummocks had allowed the bears to get the start of fully a mile, and it appeared probable that they would reach the water before they could be overtaken. The dogs seemed to be conscious of this danger, as well as the hunters, and they laid themselves down to the chase with all the wild instinct of their nature. Maddened by the detention and the prospect of the prey escaping them, the blood-thirsty pack swept across the plain like a whirlwind. Jensen and Hans encouraged their respective teams by all the arts known to the native hunter. The sledges fairly flew over the hard snow and bounced over the drifts and the occasional pieces of ice which projected above the otherwise generally smooth surface.
It was a wild chase. The dogs manifested in their speed and cry all the impatience of a pack of hounds in view of the fox, with ten times their savageness. As they neared the game they seemed to Sonntag like so many wolves closing upon a wounded buffalo.
In less than a quarter of an hour the distance between pursuers and pursued was lessened to a few hundred yards, and then they were not far from the water,—which to the one was safety, to the other defeat. During all this time the old bear was kept back by the young one, which she was evidently unwilling to abandon. The poor beast was in agony. Her cries were piteous to hear. The little one jogged on by her side, frightened and anxious; and, although it greatly retarded her progress, yet, in full view of the danger, she would not abandon it. Fear and maternal affection appeared alternately to govern her resolution; but still she held firm to her dependent offspring. One moment she would rush forward toward the open water, as if intent only upon her own safety,—then she would wheel round and push on the struggling cub with her snout; and then again she would run beside it as if coaxingly encouraging it to greater speed. Meanwhile her enemies were rushing on and steadily nearing the game. The dogs, forgetting their own fatigue in the prospect of a speedy encounter, pressed harder and harder into their collars. The critical moment was rapidly approaching; and, to add to the embarrassments of the bruin family, the little bear was giving out.
At length the sledges were within fifty yards of the struggling animals. Leaning forward, each hunter now seized the end of the line which bound the traces together in one fastening, and slipped the knot. The sledges stopped, and the dogs, freed from the load which they had been dragging, bounded fiercely for their prey. The old bear heard the rush of her coming enemies, and, halting, squared herself to meet the assault, while the little one ran frightened round her, and then crouched for shelter between her legs.
The old and experienced leader, Oosisoak, led the attack. Queen Arkadik was close beside him, and the other twenty wolfish beasts followed in order of their speed. The formidable front and defiant roar of the infuriated monster split the pack, and they passed to right and left. Only one dog faced her, and he, (a young one,) with more courage than discretion, rushed at her throat. In a moment he was crushed beneath her huge paw. Oosisoak came in upon her flank, and Arkadik tore at her haunch, and the other dogs followed this prudent example. She turned upon Oosisoak, and drove him from his hold; but in this act the cub was uncovered. Quick as lightning Karsuk flew at its neck, and a slender yellow mongrel, that we call Schnapps, followed after; but the little bear, imitating the example of its mother, prepared to do battle. Karsuk missed his grip, and Schnapps got tangled among its legs. The poor dog was soon doubled up with a blow in the side, and escaped yowling from the mêlée. Oosisoak was hard pressed, but his powerful rival Erebus came to his relief, and led his followers upon the opposite flank, which concentrated onslaught turned the bear again in the direction of her cub in time to save it; for it was now being pulled down and worried by Karsuk and his pack. For a moment disregarding her own tormenters, she threw herself upon the assailants of the cub, and to avoid her blows they quickly abandoned their hold and enabled her once more to draw the frightened though plucky little creature under her. She had come to the rescue at the critical moment, for the poor thing was weakened with the loss of blood, and was fairly exhausted with the fight.