They moved on cautiously toward the open water, rifles held in readiness for instant use.
A hundred yards from the water they heard the loud bellow of a bull seal, a number of frightened barks, a blood-curdling growl, and then the sound of bodies striking the water.
“It’s the bear!” whispered Dick hoarsely. “He’s attacked the seals.”
A moment later an arresting scene met their eyes, as they reached level ice and saw open water a few yards away. A huge polar bear, his shaggy, grayish fur dripping wet, was struggling out of the sea, holding in his jaws a young seal which still was faintly crying. Further out in the water a dozen seals were swiftly swimming toward an ice floe.
“Get back! He hasn’t seen us,” Dick said quickly, and the boys darted behind a large ice cake.
Together they peered cautiously around the edge of their barricade. The ferocious animal was out of the water now, shaking the water from his fur like a big dog. The young seal had ceased to struggle, and lay very still at the bear’s feet. In comparison with the tiny animal the polar bear seemed as large as a horse. Dick and Sandy quailed a little and pressed more closely together.
When the bear bent his head to nose over his kill, the boys quietly placed their rifles to their shoulders and took aim. Then followed a tense moment while they waited for a movement that would expose the bear’s most vulnerable points. At seventy-five yards they could not miss.
Slowly the bear picked up the seal in his jaws and paused an instant, seeming undecided as to what was the most comfortable place in which to enjoy his meal. Then two rifles cracked almost as one, and the great beast dropped to his belly, the seal falling from his jaws. Dick fired again swiftly, but Sandy jerked ineffectually at the reloading lever of his rifle. His gun had jammed in his haste.
A rattling growl came from the throat of the stricken polar bear, and with an angry lunge, the great brute started for the point from which the bullets had come. Dick fired three more times in quick succession, and a hundred feet from them the bear at last dropped and began to struggle.
“We got him!” whooped Sandy.