Chapter Twenty Five.

Chapter Twenty Five.The Walrus’ Foe.To stalk or crawl up to an animal within shooting distance upon a level prairie, where there is no sign of bush or tree, not so much as a big clump of grass, is a difficult task which it takes a Red Indian to achieve, with his peculiar powers of creeping along the ground almost like a caterpillar, moving, as it were, upon his crooked fingers and his toes; but out upon a rocky shore, among piled-up masses of ice, many of them big enough to hide a couple of hundred men, the stalking appeared to be simplicity itself, and the three bearers of firearms stepped jauntily along toward the walrus herd, screening themselves behind the masses of ice with more than one slip and stumble.The scene was brilliant in the extreme, with the sun’s rays darting from the broken fragments so lately deposited by the ice pressure, which was all that remained of the terrible convulsion of nature in which the expedition so nearly came to utter destruction. Saving the cries of the sea-birds and the ripple of the waves on the shore, there was not a sound to be heard. The water had regained its balance, so to speak, and to right and left, as far as they could see, there was a dark, open space of about a quarter of a mile wide on an average between the rugged ice-piled shore and the pack, with comparatively few fragments, flashing with light as they glided along in the now gentle current.In their passage in the boat through the gloomy chasm the cold had been intense; but a few minutes’ climbing over the ice in the clear sunshine, carrying a heavy rifle and ammunition, resulted in a pause behind a huge mass of piled-up ice, where flat piece after flat piece had been thrust one above the other, and a declaration that it was very hot.“Hist!” whispered Johannes, who, with Jakobsen, was their companion on land once more. “A sound may alarm the walrus.”“But I should have thought they would be tame enough up here,” said Steve. “They can’t have seen men before. Couldn’t we walk up to them boldly?”The Norseman shook his head.“They have other enemies beside man, sir, and they are suspicious of anything strange which they see moving. Look,” he continued, pointing downward from the height to which they had climbed.“What at? More walrus?”“No, sir; that shining water. We need not have left the boat. It is the continuation of the passage we came through, and you can trace it from those great blocks of ice right away in and out to the sea.”“All but in that one place not so very far from where we left the boat.”“Yes; the ice-floe was thrust right over it there. It may have choked it up, but perhaps there is a way under the ice. Great floes like that in motion yesterday would easily be thrust right over such a narrow canal. Look what has been done here.”“Then, if we can row right through to the sea that will be grand,” said Steve; “because it will make it so easy if we can explore along the coast in the boat.”“Yes, sir, and so much better for the seal and walrus-hunting. Shall we go on now, gentlemen?”“Yes,” said Captain Marsham. “Where do you make out the herd to be lying now?”“About a quarter of a mile from the other side of this pile, sir, straight away toward the sea. Be careful to keep out of sight.”The stalk was resumed, and slowly and carefully all crept along in single file, keeping to the depressions and rugged passages between the masses of ice.It was a most laborious struggle, for the necessity of keeping out of sight forced all to go down in the most difficult places, and at times to lie flat and crawl and drag themselves over the higher portions which they had to cross.But the excitement kept them well to their work, and in almost perfect silence they progressed till a sheltered nook was reached behind a ridge formed by the tilting of one of the ice-fields which had been forced ashore. Here they paused again to regain breath and steadiness of hand, for the exertion was great to reach this advantageous spot, just beyond which the walrus lay, the sea being close at hand. There was only a rough slope formed by the edge of the floe now lying at an angle of about thirty-five degrees for them to mount, rest their rifles on the edge, take aim each at the one he selected, and fire.Johannes had directed the captain on the course taken, he seeming to know, as if by instinct, the way to bear and regain the straight line marked out when they had been turned aside by an obstacle; and now, after pointing out to the leader where to take his place, and then by signs only indicating the doctor’s, he turned to Steve, placed his lips to the boy’s ear, and said:“Creep up slowly without a sound, slip your gun over, and take aim at one of the walrus that is side on to you. It is of no use to shoot anywhere; it must be straight behind the eye, and about six inches away, just where it looks all thick neck. They’re waiting; go on.”Steve glanced to right and left, as Johannes crouched down beside Jakobsen, each man with his lance ready; and then the captain waved his hand, and they started together, crawling up slowly and silently till they were within a yard of the level ridge, where all paused as if animated by the same spirit, thrust the barrels of their pieces toward the top, and began to seek for the next places to plant their feet so as to peer over the edge together.Steve’s heart beat with great throbs, and a curious nervous sensation came over him; but he was in position first, saw that the captain was ready the next moment, and then turned to the doctor, for it was of course necessary that all should fire together.Steve was just in time to hear a sharp ejaculation, and see the doctor slip and roll down the ice slope, his rifle rattling after him with plenty of noise; and, knowing that if he were not quick there would be no shot, he raised himself up with rifle ready, thrust it over the ridge at the same time as the captain, and then stopped there staring.“Fire! fire!” came in a whisper from Jakobsen.“What at?” replied Steve, and the captain laughed good-humouredly.“Hurt yourself, Handscombe?” he said.“Hurt myself! Of course I have. I shall be all bruises,” grumbled the doctor. “Why didn’t you shoot?”“How can you ask that when you made noise enough to frighten away all the walrus in the arctic circle?”“Are there none there?” said Johannes, who had crept up to Steve’s side.“Not a sign of one.”“Don’t say I scared them all away,” said the doctor.“Oh no, sir,” replied the Norseman, looking about searchingly. “They must have seen us ten minutes ago; they’re yonder on the ice a quarter of a mile away. We were very careful, too.”“I am glad I did not frighten them,” cried the doctor, rubbing one of his elbows.“But it’s so disappointing after all that trouble,” grumbled Steve.“Wait a bit, sir,” said Johannes, as he watched the herd; “you will have plenty of chances yet. There are sure to be some disappointments in walrus-hunting. We must be more careful next time. There are some, grand bulls there, though,” he added thoughtfully; “look at that one’s tusks, Mr Steve—that one drawing himself up out of the water.”“Yes, I was looking at it,” replied Steve. “What a monster! It looks like an elephant without a trunk, and his tusks turned wrong way on.”For there, swimming about, or climbing on to a great mass of ice a quarter of a mile away, but which looked half that distance in the clear air, was the herd in perfect safety. They were of all sizes, from calves not half grownup to unwieldy cows and the huge massive bulls. Some floated quietly, others were gambolling about, and the rest lay in various attitudes as if basking or sleeping in the warm sunshine; while one great fellow had dragged himself on to the highest point, raised himself on his fore flippers, and, with head erect, was looking about in different directions.“That’s the sentinel,” said Johannes quietly. “He’ll warn them of danger, and he must have seen us.”“No,” said Jakobsen; and he pointed to their right.Johannes laughed.“Right,” he said. “No wonder you did not get a shot, gentlemen; there was some one stalking them first.”“Some one?” cried the captain. “Who? where?”Johannes chuckled, and pointed to where the water was being parted by something swimming.“I see it,” cried Steve; “a bear!”“Yes, sir; he has been trying to get one of the young calves, but they were too sharp for him; and now he has gone down to the water, and is swimming across to the floe to have another try. If you watch him, Mr Steve, you’ll see some fun.”“Have a look, Steve,” said the captain, drawing the small double glass from its case and passing it to the boy, who carefully laid down his heavy rifle, and focussed the binocular upon the bear, bringing it, as it were, almost to his feet. He could see the long, cruel-looking head, with its pointed nose just clear of the water, the eyes the same, and the whole body so nearly submerged that there was nothing visible but the long hair, waving like a streaky ripple as the bear swam steadily on.“It’s not going after the walrus,” said Steve.“Wait a bit, sir. I think it is,” said Johannes. “That’s the bear’s cunning. If it went straight at them they would all plunge into the water, and swim and dive away. You’ll see the antics directly; those beasts are as cunning as cats.”In effect, as Steve watched, he saw the bear swim right away to the ice, a couple of hundred yards apparently from the walrus herd, climb out on to the surface, shake itself to get rid of the water two or three times, and then move away from the edge a little and lie down in the sun, while the walrus herd paid no more attention to it than it apparently paid to them, the calves wallowing about and playing on the ice, and the rest of the herd gradually drawing themselves up to bask in the warmth. In fact, though it was interesting to examine the huge beasts through the glass, Steve began to think it time to commence inspecting something else, or try to shoot something useful to the ship’s cook.“Old Johannes don’t know everything,” he said to himself; but the thought had hardly crossed his mind when the object thereof touched his arm.“Look,” he said.“I was looking,” replied Steve, whose glass was fixed upon the walrus herd. “What fat, comical creatures the young ones are! They seem to have no shape at all.”“No, no; look at the bear. He’s hungry, that fellow, and wants a good feed.”Steve turned the glass upon the bear, and saw that it had risen to its feet, and was licking itself, with its head turned away from the walrus, and then, lying down, it rolled over two or three times before beginning to lick and paw itself again for a time, but always shuffling backward a little as it attended busily to its toilet.“See what he means, sir?” whispered Johannes.“Yes, it’s trying to get nearer to the young walrus.”“That’s it, sir. Now, you watch.”Steve’s attention was taken now, and he eagerly scanned the action of the great Polar bear, which appeared to be in quite a playful mood, and had another roll and gambol on the ice before beginning to preen and clean its long, soft, whitish fur again as if it were feathers.This went on for a long time; but it was so cleverly and artfully managed that it took the others’ attention, and they all lay there on the ice in the warm sunshine, watching the cunning animal as it continued to get nearer and nearer to the herd, while the old bull, with his head erect and his white tusks curving away sat up in the most stupidly stolid fashion.“Why, the silly great bull will let the bear get close up to him!” cried Steve at last, after looking at one of these evolutions. “He managed quite six yards then. Why doesn’t the creature give the alarm?”“Not so stupid as you think, sir,” said Johannes. “I’ve watched these animals many times before, and you’ll see that he’ll give the word before long; I mean he’ll do something to start them all off.”All the same, it did not appear as if the huge walrus realised the danger approaching so steadily, for every now and then, while performing some antic, the bear continued to lessen the distance between it and its prey, while simulating the greatest innocence and assuming to be thinking of anything but making an attack. So playful a creature, enjoying itself thoroughly in the sunshine, could never have approached a walrus herd before. Now it was rolling legs upward, and giving itself a peculiar wriggle, as if to scratch its back; then it was sitting up like a cat, and reaching round to have a lick at the part of its person which had just been rubbed in the ice. A minute later it was on its flank, with all four legs stretched out, and its muzzle in the snow; and all these changes were made with the most extreme deliberation, and as if the animal was intent only upon its own enjoyment, and was as sportive as the unwieldy fat calves rolling about near their mothers a short distance away.“It’s all over,” said Steve suddenly; for the animal had shuffled a little nearer to the herd, and then lain down with its head from them, and apparently gone to sleep.The doctor and Captain Marsham, tired of watching the bear, had started off with their pieces, leaving Steve with the two Norsemen, so that the lad’s last remark was addressed to his companions.“No,” said Jakobsen, smiling; “the sport has hardly begun.”“Right,” said Johannes. “Why, Mr Steve, you do not think that treacherous great brute would take all that trouble for nothing, do you?”“I don’t know, I do not understand bears,” replied Steve; “I only say look at him. Why, Johannes, if we had had the boat through, what a capture we might have made—the bear and plenty of walrus!”“Perhaps, sir,” replied the Norseman drily.“What do you mean?”“We might have failed to get within shot.”“And if we had, lost the walrus all the same,” said Jakobsen.“Yes,” said Johannes, “you are never sure of one of those great beasts.”“Well, let’s follow the captain,” said Steve; “I’m getting a little cold.”“Won’t you stay and see the end of the bear’s game, sir? He has finished his nap, and has begun to have another roll.”The man was correct, for the bear had rolled itself over, turned, and had another roll over, bringing itself apparently within some twenty yards of a couple of the smallest calves, which were stretched out in clumsy bulk close to the edge of the ice, where it was about ten feet above the glistening water.“Now for it,” said Jakobsen; “he means mischief at last.”But never was there a more innocent, playful-looking bear. It turned half away, and began to haul up the snow as if to make its bed there upon the floe, gazing across at the land the while; then with a swing, as if it were on a pivot, it swung round.“Now!” cried Johannes; but there was no need, Steve’s eyes were fixed intently upon the animal as it made a sudden rush.So did the bull walrus, and the snow rose in clouds, torn up by the animals making for the sea, which was churned up into foam as first one and then another of the monstrous, shapeless creatures threw itself in with a tremendous splash.So great was the disturbance of snow and water that there was quite a mist; but Steve was able to see that the two fat calves rolled over into the sea in time enough to avoid the bear’s rush; and almost at the same moment the bull charged it, and caught it with its head in the flank as it stood with outstretched muzzle and grinning teeth reaching over the water, uttering a low, deep roar indicative of its disappointment.So intent was the bear on the prey which it had missed, that it paid no heed to the approach of the bull, which, after bustling across the surface of the snow, struck the bear right in the side and tumbled it off into the sea with a tremendous splash, following directly after with a turmoil in the water which was more extensive still.It was impossible to see what happened then, for the calm, smooth water seemed now to have been smitten by a storm, but only to calm again, as Jakobsen pointed along the edge of the floe, where the bear could be seen swimming steadily away.“He has got off,” said Johannes, “for a wonder.”“Why?” asked Steve; “the walrus couldn’t fight a savage beast like that.”“But they do, sir, sometimes, in defence of their young; and then the walrus can be a savage beast, too. Think of what tusks they have! I’ve seen them thirty inches long, but say there are eighteen or twenty inches standing out, firm, hard teeth with which the animal can strike like lightning.”“Straight down, I suppose?” said Steve.“Straight down, sir? Any way,—side ways, and even upwards; for big, heavy creatures as they are, they can twist their heads round like a kitten. I daresay a walrus would get the worst of it on theice, if the bear could once get a good hug; but when a bull has got a bear in the water, though he can swim splendidly, he is not at home there like a walrus, and this one must have had better luck than usual to get away.”“And where is the herd now?” said Steve, looking curiously after the bear.“Ah, gone far enough by this time, sir. The bear scared them, and they go on swimming away for miles till they forget all about the danger, and then get on the ice again.”A hail from the captain took them to his side. He was examining the narrow rift which made its way amidst the piled-up ice, the rocks on either side having prevented its being filled up, and, following this, they made their way toward the boat, and wherever it was possible they managed to trace it pretty well, till, as Johannes had surmised, they came upon a place where the channel through the rocks was covered in, but fortunately not choked, being completely arched over for about a hundred yards.“We must try and find our way to this in the boat to-morrow,” said Captain Marsham; “there must be a way, though we did not find it to-day.”“It is hidden somewhere by the rocks, sir,” said Johannes: “shall we search?”“No; they will be getting uneasy on board. I am satisfied with to-day’s work. We have found another road to the sea, one which is not blocked. But,” he added in a low voice to the doctor, “not a way out for the ship.”They reached the boat a short time after, and plunged from the brilliant sunshine into the chill and gloom of the weird rift, along which they were rowed, listening to a good deal of splashing and echoing in the darkest part.“Fish?” whispered Steve, for the strangeness of the gloomy chasm had an effect upon his spirits, and before he asked that question he had been busy with his imagination conjuring up all manner of strange-looking, dangerous creatures as being likely to inhabit the dark depths over which they were riding, so he turned to Johannes and said, “Fish?”“Seals,” replied the Norseman laconically.An hour later they were out in the sunshine once again, with the magnificent glacier which filled up the northern end of the fiord looking more lovely than when they saw it first, a fact due; perhaps, to their having been threading a gloomy passage which at times was like a huge cavern.Then came a long row past the valleys which ran inland, and down one of which the doctor declared that he saw a reindeer; and in due time the fiord contracted, the rocks on either side towered up with their ledges displaying row after row of sea-birds ready to take flight and utter their wild clamour, as in the distance they resembled a snowstorm of which the great flakes were parti-coloured.At last theHvalrosswas seen floating on the clear water, looking welcome and bright in the sunshine; and so clear was everything that as they neared her she looked doubled, one vessel keel to keel with another, whose funnel and masts lay low in the depths of the fiord.“Dinner’s quite ready, gentlemen,” said the cook as they reached the deck; and that night, in spite of the soft glow of the sun, Steve slept as soundly as if it were as dark as any that he had ever known at home.

To stalk or crawl up to an animal within shooting distance upon a level prairie, where there is no sign of bush or tree, not so much as a big clump of grass, is a difficult task which it takes a Red Indian to achieve, with his peculiar powers of creeping along the ground almost like a caterpillar, moving, as it were, upon his crooked fingers and his toes; but out upon a rocky shore, among piled-up masses of ice, many of them big enough to hide a couple of hundred men, the stalking appeared to be simplicity itself, and the three bearers of firearms stepped jauntily along toward the walrus herd, screening themselves behind the masses of ice with more than one slip and stumble.

The scene was brilliant in the extreme, with the sun’s rays darting from the broken fragments so lately deposited by the ice pressure, which was all that remained of the terrible convulsion of nature in which the expedition so nearly came to utter destruction. Saving the cries of the sea-birds and the ripple of the waves on the shore, there was not a sound to be heard. The water had regained its balance, so to speak, and to right and left, as far as they could see, there was a dark, open space of about a quarter of a mile wide on an average between the rugged ice-piled shore and the pack, with comparatively few fragments, flashing with light as they glided along in the now gentle current.

In their passage in the boat through the gloomy chasm the cold had been intense; but a few minutes’ climbing over the ice in the clear sunshine, carrying a heavy rifle and ammunition, resulted in a pause behind a huge mass of piled-up ice, where flat piece after flat piece had been thrust one above the other, and a declaration that it was very hot.

“Hist!” whispered Johannes, who, with Jakobsen, was their companion on land once more. “A sound may alarm the walrus.”

“But I should have thought they would be tame enough up here,” said Steve. “They can’t have seen men before. Couldn’t we walk up to them boldly?”

The Norseman shook his head.

“They have other enemies beside man, sir, and they are suspicious of anything strange which they see moving. Look,” he continued, pointing downward from the height to which they had climbed.

“What at? More walrus?”

“No, sir; that shining water. We need not have left the boat. It is the continuation of the passage we came through, and you can trace it from those great blocks of ice right away in and out to the sea.”

“All but in that one place not so very far from where we left the boat.”

“Yes; the ice-floe was thrust right over it there. It may have choked it up, but perhaps there is a way under the ice. Great floes like that in motion yesterday would easily be thrust right over such a narrow canal. Look what has been done here.”

“Then, if we can row right through to the sea that will be grand,” said Steve; “because it will make it so easy if we can explore along the coast in the boat.”

“Yes, sir, and so much better for the seal and walrus-hunting. Shall we go on now, gentlemen?”

“Yes,” said Captain Marsham. “Where do you make out the herd to be lying now?”

“About a quarter of a mile from the other side of this pile, sir, straight away toward the sea. Be careful to keep out of sight.”

The stalk was resumed, and slowly and carefully all crept along in single file, keeping to the depressions and rugged passages between the masses of ice.

It was a most laborious struggle, for the necessity of keeping out of sight forced all to go down in the most difficult places, and at times to lie flat and crawl and drag themselves over the higher portions which they had to cross.

But the excitement kept them well to their work, and in almost perfect silence they progressed till a sheltered nook was reached behind a ridge formed by the tilting of one of the ice-fields which had been forced ashore. Here they paused again to regain breath and steadiness of hand, for the exertion was great to reach this advantageous spot, just beyond which the walrus lay, the sea being close at hand. There was only a rough slope formed by the edge of the floe now lying at an angle of about thirty-five degrees for them to mount, rest their rifles on the edge, take aim each at the one he selected, and fire.

Johannes had directed the captain on the course taken, he seeming to know, as if by instinct, the way to bear and regain the straight line marked out when they had been turned aside by an obstacle; and now, after pointing out to the leader where to take his place, and then by signs only indicating the doctor’s, he turned to Steve, placed his lips to the boy’s ear, and said:

“Creep up slowly without a sound, slip your gun over, and take aim at one of the walrus that is side on to you. It is of no use to shoot anywhere; it must be straight behind the eye, and about six inches away, just where it looks all thick neck. They’re waiting; go on.”

Steve glanced to right and left, as Johannes crouched down beside Jakobsen, each man with his lance ready; and then the captain waved his hand, and they started together, crawling up slowly and silently till they were within a yard of the level ridge, where all paused as if animated by the same spirit, thrust the barrels of their pieces toward the top, and began to seek for the next places to plant their feet so as to peer over the edge together.

Steve’s heart beat with great throbs, and a curious nervous sensation came over him; but he was in position first, saw that the captain was ready the next moment, and then turned to the doctor, for it was of course necessary that all should fire together.

Steve was just in time to hear a sharp ejaculation, and see the doctor slip and roll down the ice slope, his rifle rattling after him with plenty of noise; and, knowing that if he were not quick there would be no shot, he raised himself up with rifle ready, thrust it over the ridge at the same time as the captain, and then stopped there staring.

“Fire! fire!” came in a whisper from Jakobsen.

“What at?” replied Steve, and the captain laughed good-humouredly.

“Hurt yourself, Handscombe?” he said.

“Hurt myself! Of course I have. I shall be all bruises,” grumbled the doctor. “Why didn’t you shoot?”

“How can you ask that when you made noise enough to frighten away all the walrus in the arctic circle?”

“Are there none there?” said Johannes, who had crept up to Steve’s side.

“Not a sign of one.”

“Don’t say I scared them all away,” said the doctor.

“Oh no, sir,” replied the Norseman, looking about searchingly. “They must have seen us ten minutes ago; they’re yonder on the ice a quarter of a mile away. We were very careful, too.”

“I am glad I did not frighten them,” cried the doctor, rubbing one of his elbows.

“But it’s so disappointing after all that trouble,” grumbled Steve.

“Wait a bit, sir,” said Johannes, as he watched the herd; “you will have plenty of chances yet. There are sure to be some disappointments in walrus-hunting. We must be more careful next time. There are some, grand bulls there, though,” he added thoughtfully; “look at that one’s tusks, Mr Steve—that one drawing himself up out of the water.”

“Yes, I was looking at it,” replied Steve. “What a monster! It looks like an elephant without a trunk, and his tusks turned wrong way on.”

For there, swimming about, or climbing on to a great mass of ice a quarter of a mile away, but which looked half that distance in the clear air, was the herd in perfect safety. They were of all sizes, from calves not half grownup to unwieldy cows and the huge massive bulls. Some floated quietly, others were gambolling about, and the rest lay in various attitudes as if basking or sleeping in the warm sunshine; while one great fellow had dragged himself on to the highest point, raised himself on his fore flippers, and, with head erect, was looking about in different directions.

“That’s the sentinel,” said Johannes quietly. “He’ll warn them of danger, and he must have seen us.”

“No,” said Jakobsen; and he pointed to their right.

Johannes laughed.

“Right,” he said. “No wonder you did not get a shot, gentlemen; there was some one stalking them first.”

“Some one?” cried the captain. “Who? where?”

Johannes chuckled, and pointed to where the water was being parted by something swimming.

“I see it,” cried Steve; “a bear!”

“Yes, sir; he has been trying to get one of the young calves, but they were too sharp for him; and now he has gone down to the water, and is swimming across to the floe to have another try. If you watch him, Mr Steve, you’ll see some fun.”

“Have a look, Steve,” said the captain, drawing the small double glass from its case and passing it to the boy, who carefully laid down his heavy rifle, and focussed the binocular upon the bear, bringing it, as it were, almost to his feet. He could see the long, cruel-looking head, with its pointed nose just clear of the water, the eyes the same, and the whole body so nearly submerged that there was nothing visible but the long hair, waving like a streaky ripple as the bear swam steadily on.

“It’s not going after the walrus,” said Steve.

“Wait a bit, sir. I think it is,” said Johannes. “That’s the bear’s cunning. If it went straight at them they would all plunge into the water, and swim and dive away. You’ll see the antics directly; those beasts are as cunning as cats.”

In effect, as Steve watched, he saw the bear swim right away to the ice, a couple of hundred yards apparently from the walrus herd, climb out on to the surface, shake itself to get rid of the water two or three times, and then move away from the edge a little and lie down in the sun, while the walrus herd paid no more attention to it than it apparently paid to them, the calves wallowing about and playing on the ice, and the rest of the herd gradually drawing themselves up to bask in the warmth. In fact, though it was interesting to examine the huge beasts through the glass, Steve began to think it time to commence inspecting something else, or try to shoot something useful to the ship’s cook.

“Old Johannes don’t know everything,” he said to himself; but the thought had hardly crossed his mind when the object thereof touched his arm.

“Look,” he said.

“I was looking,” replied Steve, whose glass was fixed upon the walrus herd. “What fat, comical creatures the young ones are! They seem to have no shape at all.”

“No, no; look at the bear. He’s hungry, that fellow, and wants a good feed.”

Steve turned the glass upon the bear, and saw that it had risen to its feet, and was licking itself, with its head turned away from the walrus, and then, lying down, it rolled over two or three times before beginning to lick and paw itself again for a time, but always shuffling backward a little as it attended busily to its toilet.

“See what he means, sir?” whispered Johannes.

“Yes, it’s trying to get nearer to the young walrus.”

“That’s it, sir. Now, you watch.”

Steve’s attention was taken now, and he eagerly scanned the action of the great Polar bear, which appeared to be in quite a playful mood, and had another roll and gambol on the ice before beginning to preen and clean its long, soft, whitish fur again as if it were feathers.

This went on for a long time; but it was so cleverly and artfully managed that it took the others’ attention, and they all lay there on the ice in the warm sunshine, watching the cunning animal as it continued to get nearer and nearer to the herd, while the old bull, with his head erect and his white tusks curving away sat up in the most stupidly stolid fashion.

“Why, the silly great bull will let the bear get close up to him!” cried Steve at last, after looking at one of these evolutions. “He managed quite six yards then. Why doesn’t the creature give the alarm?”

“Not so stupid as you think, sir,” said Johannes. “I’ve watched these animals many times before, and you’ll see that he’ll give the word before long; I mean he’ll do something to start them all off.”

All the same, it did not appear as if the huge walrus realised the danger approaching so steadily, for every now and then, while performing some antic, the bear continued to lessen the distance between it and its prey, while simulating the greatest innocence and assuming to be thinking of anything but making an attack. So playful a creature, enjoying itself thoroughly in the sunshine, could never have approached a walrus herd before. Now it was rolling legs upward, and giving itself a peculiar wriggle, as if to scratch its back; then it was sitting up like a cat, and reaching round to have a lick at the part of its person which had just been rubbed in the ice. A minute later it was on its flank, with all four legs stretched out, and its muzzle in the snow; and all these changes were made with the most extreme deliberation, and as if the animal was intent only upon its own enjoyment, and was as sportive as the unwieldy fat calves rolling about near their mothers a short distance away.

“It’s all over,” said Steve suddenly; for the animal had shuffled a little nearer to the herd, and then lain down with its head from them, and apparently gone to sleep.

The doctor and Captain Marsham, tired of watching the bear, had started off with their pieces, leaving Steve with the two Norsemen, so that the lad’s last remark was addressed to his companions.

“No,” said Jakobsen, smiling; “the sport has hardly begun.”

“Right,” said Johannes. “Why, Mr Steve, you do not think that treacherous great brute would take all that trouble for nothing, do you?”

“I don’t know, I do not understand bears,” replied Steve; “I only say look at him. Why, Johannes, if we had had the boat through, what a capture we might have made—the bear and plenty of walrus!”

“Perhaps, sir,” replied the Norseman drily.

“What do you mean?”

“We might have failed to get within shot.”

“And if we had, lost the walrus all the same,” said Jakobsen.

“Yes,” said Johannes, “you are never sure of one of those great beasts.”

“Well, let’s follow the captain,” said Steve; “I’m getting a little cold.”

“Won’t you stay and see the end of the bear’s game, sir? He has finished his nap, and has begun to have another roll.”

The man was correct, for the bear had rolled itself over, turned, and had another roll over, bringing itself apparently within some twenty yards of a couple of the smallest calves, which were stretched out in clumsy bulk close to the edge of the ice, where it was about ten feet above the glistening water.

“Now for it,” said Jakobsen; “he means mischief at last.”

But never was there a more innocent, playful-looking bear. It turned half away, and began to haul up the snow as if to make its bed there upon the floe, gazing across at the land the while; then with a swing, as if it were on a pivot, it swung round.

“Now!” cried Johannes; but there was no need, Steve’s eyes were fixed intently upon the animal as it made a sudden rush.

So did the bull walrus, and the snow rose in clouds, torn up by the animals making for the sea, which was churned up into foam as first one and then another of the monstrous, shapeless creatures threw itself in with a tremendous splash.

So great was the disturbance of snow and water that there was quite a mist; but Steve was able to see that the two fat calves rolled over into the sea in time enough to avoid the bear’s rush; and almost at the same moment the bull charged it, and caught it with its head in the flank as it stood with outstretched muzzle and grinning teeth reaching over the water, uttering a low, deep roar indicative of its disappointment.

So intent was the bear on the prey which it had missed, that it paid no heed to the approach of the bull, which, after bustling across the surface of the snow, struck the bear right in the side and tumbled it off into the sea with a tremendous splash, following directly after with a turmoil in the water which was more extensive still.

It was impossible to see what happened then, for the calm, smooth water seemed now to have been smitten by a storm, but only to calm again, as Jakobsen pointed along the edge of the floe, where the bear could be seen swimming steadily away.

“He has got off,” said Johannes, “for a wonder.”

“Why?” asked Steve; “the walrus couldn’t fight a savage beast like that.”

“But they do, sir, sometimes, in defence of their young; and then the walrus can be a savage beast, too. Think of what tusks they have! I’ve seen them thirty inches long, but say there are eighteen or twenty inches standing out, firm, hard teeth with which the animal can strike like lightning.”

“Straight down, I suppose?” said Steve.

“Straight down, sir? Any way,—side ways, and even upwards; for big, heavy creatures as they are, they can twist their heads round like a kitten. I daresay a walrus would get the worst of it on theice, if the bear could once get a good hug; but when a bull has got a bear in the water, though he can swim splendidly, he is not at home there like a walrus, and this one must have had better luck than usual to get away.”

“And where is the herd now?” said Steve, looking curiously after the bear.

“Ah, gone far enough by this time, sir. The bear scared them, and they go on swimming away for miles till they forget all about the danger, and then get on the ice again.”

A hail from the captain took them to his side. He was examining the narrow rift which made its way amidst the piled-up ice, the rocks on either side having prevented its being filled up, and, following this, they made their way toward the boat, and wherever it was possible they managed to trace it pretty well, till, as Johannes had surmised, they came upon a place where the channel through the rocks was covered in, but fortunately not choked, being completely arched over for about a hundred yards.

“We must try and find our way to this in the boat to-morrow,” said Captain Marsham; “there must be a way, though we did not find it to-day.”

“It is hidden somewhere by the rocks, sir,” said Johannes: “shall we search?”

“No; they will be getting uneasy on board. I am satisfied with to-day’s work. We have found another road to the sea, one which is not blocked. But,” he added in a low voice to the doctor, “not a way out for the ship.”

They reached the boat a short time after, and plunged from the brilliant sunshine into the chill and gloom of the weird rift, along which they were rowed, listening to a good deal of splashing and echoing in the darkest part.

“Fish?” whispered Steve, for the strangeness of the gloomy chasm had an effect upon his spirits, and before he asked that question he had been busy with his imagination conjuring up all manner of strange-looking, dangerous creatures as being likely to inhabit the dark depths over which they were riding, so he turned to Johannes and said, “Fish?”

“Seals,” replied the Norseman laconically.

An hour later they were out in the sunshine once again, with the magnificent glacier which filled up the northern end of the fiord looking more lovely than when they saw it first, a fact due; perhaps, to their having been threading a gloomy passage which at times was like a huge cavern.

Then came a long row past the valleys which ran inland, and down one of which the doctor declared that he saw a reindeer; and in due time the fiord contracted, the rocks on either side towered up with their ledges displaying row after row of sea-birds ready to take flight and utter their wild clamour, as in the distance they resembled a snowstorm of which the great flakes were parti-coloured.

At last theHvalrosswas seen floating on the clear water, looking welcome and bright in the sunshine; and so clear was everything that as they neared her she looked doubled, one vessel keel to keel with another, whose funnel and masts lay low in the depths of the fiord.

“Dinner’s quite ready, gentlemen,” said the cook as they reached the deck; and that night, in spite of the soft glow of the sun, Steve slept as soundly as if it were as dark as any that he had ever known at home.

Chapter Twenty Six.The Doctor’s Shot.Captain Marsham had given his orders over-night, and hence the steam was up by breakfast time, and directly after that meal the vessel was gliding northward with her propeller churning up the deep water into a silvery foam, while two ever-extending waves ran toward the sides of the fiord, and broke upon the perpendicular rocks which ran down into deep water.Steve felt a little regret at quitting their anchorage, till he recalled that there was an equally beautiful one at the foot of the frozen fall; and he had just come to the conclusion that it was a very wise change, for it suggested imprisonment to be shut in on three sides by the towering rocks and the piled-up ice-floes, when the captain said to Mr Handscombe:“This will be a wonderful change for the better.”“But you will not go on loading the vessel with oil now?” said the doctor.“Why not? We shall have grand opportunities to do that, and make expeditions inland as well, on the chance of finding that our friends may also have been driven up here.”“But the vessel—we can never extricate her, so why load her?”“Because the chances here are so many. It looks at the first blush as if the vessel is bound to stay here till she has rotted and the engine rusted away, but we are not going to despair. Who could, in weather like this, eh, Steve?”“Of course not,” said the boy. “Why, we can set to work and build a ship big enough to carry us back to Norway out of the planks, if the ice behind us does not melt.”The captain nodded, and then he resumed his task of keeping a sharp look-out forward in search of rocks, but his search was vain, for the water was immensely deep and clear, and they reached the open part of the fiord, and cast anchor a short distance away from the mouth of the black chasm and in full view of the glacier. This promised to give them shelter from the first northern gale which blew, though one of the lateral valleys looked threatening, and as if the wind could rush along it like a blast roaring through a pipe; but as that was below their anchorage, it was not likely to affect them much.The anchor then went down in deep water, and as if they had only to sail out up the fiord at any time they liked, the captain had two boats lowered, and giving the mate charge of one, he led the way in the other to the mouth of the chasm, while the men, with their lances and harpoons on board, tugged eagerly at the oars, ready and willing for their first attack upon the oil-yielding animals of the northern seas.Success attended them on getting to the more open water at the end of the chasm, for, after a little searching, the continuation was found right at the back of a huge mass of rock, and, clearing this obstacle, the men rowed on, to plunge into brief darkness again beneath the long stretch of ice arches. Then came a good, steady pull and a cheer, for the boats were out in clear water in the wide channel which ran up between the ice-bound shore and the floe.As they rowed out in the open water the men looked disappointed, and Steve, who was in the bows of the first boat with Johannes and Jakobsen, had to listen to the Scotch sailors’ banter, spoken to the Norwegians sometimes, but more often at the lad himself.“Hahmeesh laddie,” said Andrew McByle, “if she hadna baith hands at the oar, she’d get out ta sneeshin’. Gie me a pinch. Hah! Ferry goot, laddie, ferry goot,” he continued, after helping himself to a pinch of snuff, and being able to use his hands for that. “She’ll hae chust ane more wee bit. Hah! Tak’ the box back, as she’ll pe for finishing it a’.”They rowed on for a little while, with Hamish staring about and Andrew giving an occasional snort of contempt.“See annything, Hahmeesh?”“Na, naething.”“Naething it is, laddie. Hech! And I thocht after a’ she’d heard tell tat the sea was chust alive wi’ the walrus and seal, and bear lived a’ along like wee birdies on the rocks.”“Hey, to hear a’ they said,” grumbled Hamish, “she’d think sae. Ant there’s as many walrus coos and bulls here as ye see in ta Firth o’ Clyde if ye gang oop ta Glasgie.”“Ye’re recht, laddie,” said Andrew, “chust as many. Why, it’s petter in ta Clyde, for she can see a porpoise pig, and there’s naething here but watter and ice. Wha are we gaen?”“She canna tell,” said Hamish. “She’s thinkin’ it’s to pring the lang tyke oot for a ride.”“If you call my collie a ‘lang tyke,’ Hamish, I’ll set him at you. Here, Skeny. Css!”The dog started up from where he had been lying in the bows, looked in his master’s face, and uttered a low growl.“Na, she wadna set the tog at a man, Hahmeesh,” said Andrew with a sly grin. “Not that there’s muckle bite spout the tog. What made ye pring her to sea at a’, Meester Steve?”“To bite impudent people’s legs,” said Steve gruffly.“Na, she wadna dae tat,” cried Andrew. “Put, Meester Steve, wha’ are a’ the walrus gane tae?”“To sleep, perhaps.”Andrew chuckled.“Look here, laddie, she winna say a wort to anny one, but ye’ll chust tell the truth to a man. She tidna see anny walrus yesterday at a’?”“I’m not going to try and make you believe if you don’t care to,” said Steve.“Put she chust wants to know. Come noo, ye tidna see anny, and it was a chust flim-flam and mak’-believe.”“There were plenty here yesterday,” said Steve.“Then where are they gane the?”“Why didn’t you bring your pipes and play? You’d have soon seen where they were.”“Ay!” said Andrew seriously. “Chust a wee lilt o’ the pipes might pring the creatures oot o’ their holes. There was a man ance, Apollo they ca’d him, as played on the pipes, an’ a’ the bit beasties cam’ roond to listen; and she’ll pe thenking that a’ that time back the pipes would pe ferry safage like, and a mon like tat not aple to play like we play the noo.”This was said so innocently and in such good faith that Steve could hardly keep his countenance.“Chah! She’s ferry sorry she tidna pring the pipes. There was plenty room in ta poat.”“But there’s no room out here for the noise,” cried Steve, laughing.“Tid she hear tat?” said Andrew, turning his head to speak to Hamish. “She ca’d the music noise. Ah, laddie, ye’ll ken mair spout the music when ye’re a muckle bit more auld. It’s a ferry crant thing the music, and she’ll pe ferry sorry some tay that she crinned at the pipes.”“R–r–r–r–ra!” growled Skene, leaping upward so as to place his paws on Steve’s shoulders; and then he barked loudly as he gazed at the ice-floe on their left.“Keep that dog quiet, Steve,” said the captain; “he’ll scare the walrus.”Andrew’s head went down with his chin upon his breast, and he gave Steve an exasperating, sly look as the lad tried to quiet the dog.“Do you hear? Keep him quiet! We ought not to have brought him.”“She winna skear ta walrus,” whispered Andrew, “for there are nane.”“The dog sees something yonder,” said Johannes. “Yes, there! He sees a bear close up in that break in the ice.”“A bear!” cried the captain excitedly. “Well done, dog! We should have passed it.”The rifles were seized, and their eyes shaded to catch a glimpse of the white-furred animal hiding in one of the crevices of the ice cliff until the boat had passed. But the glitter of the snow made the task difficult till they were much nearer, and then it was seen to be lying at full length just clear of the water, and with its head well up, apparently enjoying the warm sunshine and seizing a favourable opportunity for a good sleep.Rifles were held ready for a shot as the men rowed in till they were within a hundred yards, without the bear, which was a monster, taking the slightest notice of the boat, and then the captain said:“Cease rowing the moment I hold up my hand. Johannes, Jakobsen, have your spears ready; the brute may swim off and attack the boat when it is wounded.”“We are quite ready, sir,” said the Norwegian in a whisper; and he and his companion gently raised the heads of their spears from where the weapons were lying along the thwarts.“Good. Now, Steve, we’ll get in another fifty yards if we can, and then rest on our oars. You shall have the first shot. Do you know where to aim?”“About six inches behind his eye, sir.”“Nonsense, boy!” cried the captain sharply. “Fire right at the brute’s shoulder, sending the bullet through the shoulder-blade to the heart.”“Yes, sir,” said Steve; and he turned to Johannes. “You told me to shoot six inches behind the eye,” he whispered.“At a walrus, sir; not at a bear.”By this time they were about fifty yards away from the bear, which had not stirred. The captain raised his hand, and the men ceased dipping their oars, the boat gliding forward a short distance, and then coming to a stand.“Now, Steve! Quick!”“I—I don’t care to fire,” whispered the lad.“Bah! What do you mean?”“The bear’s asleep, and it seems so cowardly.”“I’m not so particular about a dangerous beast,” said the doctor; and, kneeling in the stem of the boat, he rested his elbows on the gunwale, took a long aim, and fired, the bullet striking the bear’s shoulder with a dull thud.“Well done! splendid shot!” cried the captain. “Right to the heart. The brute hardly moved.”But, all the same, as the smoke rose he stood ready to send another shot at the monster if it should prove only to be stunned.“Here, doctor,” he said, “give him the other barrel, so as to make sure. I don’t want any one to be clawed.”The doctor, nothing loth, took aim again, and fired his second cartridge, this bullet also taking effect; but the bear did not move.“Dead enough,” said the captain. “Give way, my lads.”The men pulled, and the boat was rowed right up to a tiny valley in the ice, which just gave them room to land and group round the monstrous bear, the gentlemen with their guns ready for a shot, the two Norwegians with their spears over their shoulders.The doctor’s eyes sparkled with delight, for this bear also was a magnificent specimen, with enormously long, fine hair, decidedly whiter than the coat of the brute they had destroyed at Jan Mayen.“I did not know that you were such a shot, Handscombe,” said the captain.“Oh, a mere accident,” said the doctor modestly. “Wasn’t it a pity you let your chance go, Steve?”“Oh, I don’t mind,” said the lad, planting his foot on the bear’s shoulder, and stooping to look for the wound. Then he started, and glanced at Johannes, who, like Jakobsen, stood leaning on his spear.He read confirmation in the man’s quiet eyes, and he turned round excitedly to his companions.“Why, the bear’s dead!” he cried.“Of course it is,” said the captain, laughing. “We should not be standing here if it were not.”“But I mean dead before Mr Handscombe fired!”“What!” cried the doctor, flushing red, while the captain went down on one knee to raise a paw.“Yes,” he cried, “and frozen stiff. It must have been dead for many hours, eh, Johannes?”“Yes, sir,” said the man, kneeling down to part the fur, “many hours. Yes, here it is! Look! in the chest. The walrus got his tusk well home.”“Eh? What?” cried the captain, as the Norseman pointed to a great gaping wound; from which the blood had been washed by the sea. The wound was in the upper part of the animal’s chest, in a position where a dagger-like stroke would penetrate to the heart; and the bear had evidently swum for some distance, crawled there, and, after drawing itself up, quietly died.“But I don’t quite understand,” said the captain.“It is the walrus we saw tumble the bear off the cliff into the sea yesterday.”“What!” cried the doctor excitedly. “Then I did not kill it?”“No,” said the captain, laughing. “You cannot kill a dead thing.”“But—but—” stammered the doctor.“You see, doctor, your profession is curing, not killing,” cried the captain, laughing. “Never mind: better luck next time.”“But it is so absurd. The idea of shooting at a dead beast!”“I’m glad I didn’t, Mr Handscombe!” cried Steve merrily.“Now, look here, don’t you begin to joke me, sir,” said the doctor, “because I will not have it.”He spoke laughingly, but he was evidently greatly chagrined.“So utterly ridiculous,” he said. “I say, Johannes, you ought not to have let me waste ammunition over a dead beast.”“I’m very sorry, sir, but I did not know till you fired the first shot, the animal lay so naturally. Then I began to think it was our bear wounded. Of course, sir, I would not have let you fire if I had known.”“Never mind,” said the captain, laughing. “But I say, Steve, my lad, your scruples saved you from a—from a—”“There, say it; don’t hesitate,” said the doctor. “Saved him from a very ridiculous action. I don’t mind.”“Well, we have got a magnificent bear anyhow,” cried the captain. “His skin is finer than that of the other, and he is tremendously fat.”“There’ll pe plenty more pear’s grease for Watty’s hair,” whispered Hamish; and Andrew uttered a dry laugh, which sounded like the rattling together of pieces of wood.“I don’t think there can be any tide to rise here and sweep the animal away,” said the captain, “so we’ll leave it till we return.”He led the way to the boat, leaving the bear untouched, and the next minute they were rowing north, with the whole party keeping a sharp look-out for the walrus, which seemed to have forsaken the coast.

Captain Marsham had given his orders over-night, and hence the steam was up by breakfast time, and directly after that meal the vessel was gliding northward with her propeller churning up the deep water into a silvery foam, while two ever-extending waves ran toward the sides of the fiord, and broke upon the perpendicular rocks which ran down into deep water.

Steve felt a little regret at quitting their anchorage, till he recalled that there was an equally beautiful one at the foot of the frozen fall; and he had just come to the conclusion that it was a very wise change, for it suggested imprisonment to be shut in on three sides by the towering rocks and the piled-up ice-floes, when the captain said to Mr Handscombe:

“This will be a wonderful change for the better.”

“But you will not go on loading the vessel with oil now?” said the doctor.

“Why not? We shall have grand opportunities to do that, and make expeditions inland as well, on the chance of finding that our friends may also have been driven up here.”

“But the vessel—we can never extricate her, so why load her?”

“Because the chances here are so many. It looks at the first blush as if the vessel is bound to stay here till she has rotted and the engine rusted away, but we are not going to despair. Who could, in weather like this, eh, Steve?”

“Of course not,” said the boy. “Why, we can set to work and build a ship big enough to carry us back to Norway out of the planks, if the ice behind us does not melt.”

The captain nodded, and then he resumed his task of keeping a sharp look-out forward in search of rocks, but his search was vain, for the water was immensely deep and clear, and they reached the open part of the fiord, and cast anchor a short distance away from the mouth of the black chasm and in full view of the glacier. This promised to give them shelter from the first northern gale which blew, though one of the lateral valleys looked threatening, and as if the wind could rush along it like a blast roaring through a pipe; but as that was below their anchorage, it was not likely to affect them much.

The anchor then went down in deep water, and as if they had only to sail out up the fiord at any time they liked, the captain had two boats lowered, and giving the mate charge of one, he led the way in the other to the mouth of the chasm, while the men, with their lances and harpoons on board, tugged eagerly at the oars, ready and willing for their first attack upon the oil-yielding animals of the northern seas.

Success attended them on getting to the more open water at the end of the chasm, for, after a little searching, the continuation was found right at the back of a huge mass of rock, and, clearing this obstacle, the men rowed on, to plunge into brief darkness again beneath the long stretch of ice arches. Then came a good, steady pull and a cheer, for the boats were out in clear water in the wide channel which ran up between the ice-bound shore and the floe.

As they rowed out in the open water the men looked disappointed, and Steve, who was in the bows of the first boat with Johannes and Jakobsen, had to listen to the Scotch sailors’ banter, spoken to the Norwegians sometimes, but more often at the lad himself.

“Hahmeesh laddie,” said Andrew McByle, “if she hadna baith hands at the oar, she’d get out ta sneeshin’. Gie me a pinch. Hah! Ferry goot, laddie, ferry goot,” he continued, after helping himself to a pinch of snuff, and being able to use his hands for that. “She’ll hae chust ane more wee bit. Hah! Tak’ the box back, as she’ll pe for finishing it a’.”

They rowed on for a little while, with Hamish staring about and Andrew giving an occasional snort of contempt.

“See annything, Hahmeesh?”

“Na, naething.”

“Naething it is, laddie. Hech! And I thocht after a’ she’d heard tell tat the sea was chust alive wi’ the walrus and seal, and bear lived a’ along like wee birdies on the rocks.”

“Hey, to hear a’ they said,” grumbled Hamish, “she’d think sae. Ant there’s as many walrus coos and bulls here as ye see in ta Firth o’ Clyde if ye gang oop ta Glasgie.”

“Ye’re recht, laddie,” said Andrew, “chust as many. Why, it’s petter in ta Clyde, for she can see a porpoise pig, and there’s naething here but watter and ice. Wha are we gaen?”

“She canna tell,” said Hamish. “She’s thinkin’ it’s to pring the lang tyke oot for a ride.”

“If you call my collie a ‘lang tyke,’ Hamish, I’ll set him at you. Here, Skeny. Css!”

The dog started up from where he had been lying in the bows, looked in his master’s face, and uttered a low growl.

“Na, she wadna set the tog at a man, Hahmeesh,” said Andrew with a sly grin. “Not that there’s muckle bite spout the tog. What made ye pring her to sea at a’, Meester Steve?”

“To bite impudent people’s legs,” said Steve gruffly.

“Na, she wadna dae tat,” cried Andrew. “Put, Meester Steve, wha’ are a’ the walrus gane tae?”

“To sleep, perhaps.”

Andrew chuckled.

“Look here, laddie, she winna say a wort to anny one, but ye’ll chust tell the truth to a man. She tidna see anny walrus yesterday at a’?”

“I’m not going to try and make you believe if you don’t care to,” said Steve.

“Put she chust wants to know. Come noo, ye tidna see anny, and it was a chust flim-flam and mak’-believe.”

“There were plenty here yesterday,” said Steve.

“Then where are they gane the?”

“Why didn’t you bring your pipes and play? You’d have soon seen where they were.”

“Ay!” said Andrew seriously. “Chust a wee lilt o’ the pipes might pring the creatures oot o’ their holes. There was a man ance, Apollo they ca’d him, as played on the pipes, an’ a’ the bit beasties cam’ roond to listen; and she’ll pe thenking that a’ that time back the pipes would pe ferry safage like, and a mon like tat not aple to play like we play the noo.”

This was said so innocently and in such good faith that Steve could hardly keep his countenance.

“Chah! She’s ferry sorry she tidna pring the pipes. There was plenty room in ta poat.”

“But there’s no room out here for the noise,” cried Steve, laughing.

“Tid she hear tat?” said Andrew, turning his head to speak to Hamish. “She ca’d the music noise. Ah, laddie, ye’ll ken mair spout the music when ye’re a muckle bit more auld. It’s a ferry crant thing the music, and she’ll pe ferry sorry some tay that she crinned at the pipes.”

“R–r–r–r–ra!” growled Skene, leaping upward so as to place his paws on Steve’s shoulders; and then he barked loudly as he gazed at the ice-floe on their left.

“Keep that dog quiet, Steve,” said the captain; “he’ll scare the walrus.”

Andrew’s head went down with his chin upon his breast, and he gave Steve an exasperating, sly look as the lad tried to quiet the dog.

“Do you hear? Keep him quiet! We ought not to have brought him.”

“She winna skear ta walrus,” whispered Andrew, “for there are nane.”

“The dog sees something yonder,” said Johannes. “Yes, there! He sees a bear close up in that break in the ice.”

“A bear!” cried the captain excitedly. “Well done, dog! We should have passed it.”

The rifles were seized, and their eyes shaded to catch a glimpse of the white-furred animal hiding in one of the crevices of the ice cliff until the boat had passed. But the glitter of the snow made the task difficult till they were much nearer, and then it was seen to be lying at full length just clear of the water, and with its head well up, apparently enjoying the warm sunshine and seizing a favourable opportunity for a good sleep.

Rifles were held ready for a shot as the men rowed in till they were within a hundred yards, without the bear, which was a monster, taking the slightest notice of the boat, and then the captain said:

“Cease rowing the moment I hold up my hand. Johannes, Jakobsen, have your spears ready; the brute may swim off and attack the boat when it is wounded.”

“We are quite ready, sir,” said the Norwegian in a whisper; and he and his companion gently raised the heads of their spears from where the weapons were lying along the thwarts.

“Good. Now, Steve, we’ll get in another fifty yards if we can, and then rest on our oars. You shall have the first shot. Do you know where to aim?”

“About six inches behind his eye, sir.”

“Nonsense, boy!” cried the captain sharply. “Fire right at the brute’s shoulder, sending the bullet through the shoulder-blade to the heart.”

“Yes, sir,” said Steve; and he turned to Johannes. “You told me to shoot six inches behind the eye,” he whispered.

“At a walrus, sir; not at a bear.”

By this time they were about fifty yards away from the bear, which had not stirred. The captain raised his hand, and the men ceased dipping their oars, the boat gliding forward a short distance, and then coming to a stand.

“Now, Steve! Quick!”

“I—I don’t care to fire,” whispered the lad.

“Bah! What do you mean?”

“The bear’s asleep, and it seems so cowardly.”

“I’m not so particular about a dangerous beast,” said the doctor; and, kneeling in the stem of the boat, he rested his elbows on the gunwale, took a long aim, and fired, the bullet striking the bear’s shoulder with a dull thud.

“Well done! splendid shot!” cried the captain. “Right to the heart. The brute hardly moved.”

But, all the same, as the smoke rose he stood ready to send another shot at the monster if it should prove only to be stunned.

“Here, doctor,” he said, “give him the other barrel, so as to make sure. I don’t want any one to be clawed.”

The doctor, nothing loth, took aim again, and fired his second cartridge, this bullet also taking effect; but the bear did not move.

“Dead enough,” said the captain. “Give way, my lads.”

The men pulled, and the boat was rowed right up to a tiny valley in the ice, which just gave them room to land and group round the monstrous bear, the gentlemen with their guns ready for a shot, the two Norwegians with their spears over their shoulders.

The doctor’s eyes sparkled with delight, for this bear also was a magnificent specimen, with enormously long, fine hair, decidedly whiter than the coat of the brute they had destroyed at Jan Mayen.

“I did not know that you were such a shot, Handscombe,” said the captain.

“Oh, a mere accident,” said the doctor modestly. “Wasn’t it a pity you let your chance go, Steve?”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” said the lad, planting his foot on the bear’s shoulder, and stooping to look for the wound. Then he started, and glanced at Johannes, who, like Jakobsen, stood leaning on his spear.

He read confirmation in the man’s quiet eyes, and he turned round excitedly to his companions.

“Why, the bear’s dead!” he cried.

“Of course it is,” said the captain, laughing. “We should not be standing here if it were not.”

“But I mean dead before Mr Handscombe fired!”

“What!” cried the doctor, flushing red, while the captain went down on one knee to raise a paw.

“Yes,” he cried, “and frozen stiff. It must have been dead for many hours, eh, Johannes?”

“Yes, sir,” said the man, kneeling down to part the fur, “many hours. Yes, here it is! Look! in the chest. The walrus got his tusk well home.”

“Eh? What?” cried the captain, as the Norseman pointed to a great gaping wound; from which the blood had been washed by the sea. The wound was in the upper part of the animal’s chest, in a position where a dagger-like stroke would penetrate to the heart; and the bear had evidently swum for some distance, crawled there, and, after drawing itself up, quietly died.

“But I don’t quite understand,” said the captain.

“It is the walrus we saw tumble the bear off the cliff into the sea yesterday.”

“What!” cried the doctor excitedly. “Then I did not kill it?”

“No,” said the captain, laughing. “You cannot kill a dead thing.”

“But—but—” stammered the doctor.

“You see, doctor, your profession is curing, not killing,” cried the captain, laughing. “Never mind: better luck next time.”

“But it is so absurd. The idea of shooting at a dead beast!”

“I’m glad I didn’t, Mr Handscombe!” cried Steve merrily.

“Now, look here, don’t you begin to joke me, sir,” said the doctor, “because I will not have it.”

He spoke laughingly, but he was evidently greatly chagrined.

“So utterly ridiculous,” he said. “I say, Johannes, you ought not to have let me waste ammunition over a dead beast.”

“I’m very sorry, sir, but I did not know till you fired the first shot, the animal lay so naturally. Then I began to think it was our bear wounded. Of course, sir, I would not have let you fire if I had known.”

“Never mind,” said the captain, laughing. “But I say, Steve, my lad, your scruples saved you from a—from a—”

“There, say it; don’t hesitate,” said the doctor. “Saved him from a very ridiculous action. I don’t mind.”

“Well, we have got a magnificent bear anyhow,” cried the captain. “His skin is finer than that of the other, and he is tremendously fat.”

“There’ll pe plenty more pear’s grease for Watty’s hair,” whispered Hamish; and Andrew uttered a dry laugh, which sounded like the rattling together of pieces of wood.

“I don’t think there can be any tide to rise here and sweep the animal away,” said the captain, “so we’ll leave it till we return.”

He led the way to the boat, leaving the bear untouched, and the next minute they were rowing north, with the whole party keeping a sharp look-out for the walrus, which seemed to have forsaken the coast.

Chapter Twenty Seven.Their First Walrus.But they were not kept waiting long. A quarter of a mile farther on the coast trended round to the east, and there the open sheet of water became encumbered with masses of ice, upon several of which Jakobsen, whose eyes were wonderfully good and admirably trained, pointed out walrus asleep or on the watch with head thrown back.That was enough. Andrew uttered no more gibes, but tugged at his oar with the rest, and as silently; for all knew how much depended upon their surprising the wary beasts.“Have you ever shot walrus, sir?” asked Johannes suddenly.“Never,” replied the captain; “but I think I shall be able to hit one.”“Of course, sir. What I meant was, that as soon as you have hit one it will make for the water and sink. So do not be surprised after you have shot if I harpoon the beast to save it from being lost.”“They do sink, then?”“Yes, sir; fat as they are they go right down. I have seen many a one lost after being shot.”“But they are so fat,” said the captain. “An animal laden like that with blubber ought surely to float.”“You would think so, sir,” replied the Norseman, who had now replaced the spear along the thwarts and taken up a harpoon; “but they do not float.”“Well, don’t let us lose any if you can prevent it,” said the captain; and Johannes smiled, and then answered Steve’s questions, as he busily made ready for the coming fight by thrusting the lance heads well up into the box which protected them from injury right up toward the bows, and then examined the harpoon head and shank round which the line was firmly secured.“How long is the line, Johannes?”“About fifteen fathoms, sir.”“Oh, but isn’t that too short? Suppose the walrus comes to the end of the line after being harpooned. It would pull the boat under.”“No, sir,” said the man, smiling, “because then we should cut the line.”“But that would be a pity. Why not have it longer?”“Because it would only be in the way, sir. A walrus seldom takes out fifteen fathoms when it dives after being struck.”“How’s that?”“Before it has run out that much it has to come up again to breathe.”“I see. But suppose it swims away along the surface?”“Ah! you’ll see then, sir,” said Johannes, smiling, “if I am lucky enough to harpoon one.”Steve was silent for the time as, in obedience to the captain’s orders, the men rowed gently toward a huge bull which lay on the ice, displaying a magnificent pair of tusks. But suddenly something took the boy’s attention, and he seized the Norseman’s arm.“Look!” he cried. “How lucky I saw! That harpoon is not fastened to the shaft.”“No, sir. It ought not to be.”“But why? Won’t it come off when you throw it?”“I hope so, sir; we don’t want it broken. Don’t you see that the line is fastened to the head? We want the shaft to come out and float on the water, so that we can pick it up and use it again. It is almost the same as with the harpoons for the beluga.”“Oh, I see. But wouldn’t they be better if they were made thicker?”“No, sir,” said the man, giving the harpoon head a twist and taking it easily from the pointed end of the light pine shaft and replacing it. “That is just right, sir.”Steve gave the Norseman a droll look.“I say,” he whispered, “what an ignorant fellow you must think me!”“No,” said the man, smiling. “You did not understand the things that long experience has taught us are the best; but they are very simple, and you know them now.”“Yes, I know now. But tell me one more thing, and then I will not bother you any more.”“Quick, then,” said the Norseman good-humouredly.“I want to know how near you have to get before you throw.”“We don’t throw the harpoon at all if we can help it,” replied Johannes, “but get close enough to thrust it into the seal, give it a twist to entangle it in the tough hide, and draw out the shaft.”“Oh, look!” said Steve in a disappointed tone; for, when they were about a hundred yards away, the big bull raised his head, stared at them, and then shuffled off the block on which he lay, gave two or three heavy flops, and slid down softly into the water.“Never mind, sir,” said Johannes calmly; “there is another yonder with finer tusks—that one to the left; and you can steer the boat so that it will be out of sight till we are quite close.”The captain’s face, which had looked gloomy, brightened, and he followed out the instructions given; while Skene, after twice over being on the point of barking loudly at the huge beasts scattered about amongst the icefloes, appeared as if he grasped the position and the meaning of the talking-to he had received, and stood there with his feet upon one of the thwarts well out of the way of the harpooner and his line, and watched the walrus with his ears quivering and playing about, taking evidently as much interest in the proceedings as his master.This time the boat passed several of the heavy animals, which stared at them stupidly, but did not attempt to stir, so that there would have been no difficulty twice over in striking and making fast; but the huge fellow with the grand tusks was the one they aimed for, the walrus they passed having shorter or broken teeth.“How is it so many have their teeth damaged?” whispered Steve.“No dentists up here to attend to them,” said the doctor, who had heard the query.“Some break them fighting,” said Johannes seriously, for he did not comprehend Mr Handscombe’s allusion; “but very often they snap off the points through digging, them into the ice.”“What for?”“To drag themselves up out of the water,” replied Johannes with a look of surprise. “Now, hist!”Steve was silent, and sat with his rifle across his lap watching the animals, several of those swimming about being young of various sizes, great, fat, shapeless creatures, more like inflated india-rubber sacks cut short than anything else.And all this time the boat and men kept well behind a large piece of the ice-floe, which screened them effectually from the great bull. But now the time had come when they would have to row round into sight, and the captain sat ready with his piece cocked, the doctor also being prepared to follow if necessary; and, seeing this, Steve softly raised the hammers of his own rifle, and sat prepared.Johannes noted his action, and gave an approving nod.The boat glided round the end of the floe, and there, some sixty yards away, lay the massive bull.The huge animal had no idea of their approach till now, when they learned the fact that it was evidently the sentinel of the herd, for it drew itself right up with a look of surprise, and the captain raised his piece.“Not yet, sir!” cried Johannes. “Closer, closer!”The men pulled, and they saw the bull go through some singular evolutions, as if it were kicking at something beyond and out of sight. It was so, for instantly three more walrus started into sight and plunged into the water, and, the alarm being spread, the occupants of other masses of ice and the edge of the principal floe slid and splashed heavily in, their leader having evidently cried, “Danger! Every one for himself!”As soon as the grand old sentinel had done his duty, he prepared, with an activity not to have been expected, to take care of himself, all of this having been the work of half a minute; but the boat was now within thirty yards, and gliding nearer, when the captain fired two shots rapidly one after the other.“Pull!” roared Johannes, and the men dragged at their stout ashen blades; and as the bull, which did not seem even staggered by the heavy bullets, plunged down from the side of the floe, the Norseman reached it and drove the harpoon right into its back, giving a twist with his wrist, and drawing back with the thin pine shaft, as the line ran rapidly out over the bows, following the walrus which had disappeared.“No, missed!” cried one of the Norsemen from the second boat; and as Steve glanced in that direction he saw that they were pulling hard, apparently after nothing, for not a walrus could be seen.Then, with Johannes erect in the bows, armed with his great lance, the boat was pulled in the direction in which the line was running out, and for a moment Steve was startled, for all at once a hundred heads almost together appeared above the surface some distance before them, there was a burst of sniffs and snorts as the animals took breath and instantly dived down again, their flippers appearing above the surface, and then they were gone.The great bull appeared, too, and dived once more before the line was run out; and when the herd, after which the other boat was in full chase, had appeared in the same way two or three times, breathed, and dived again, Jakobsen began to manipulate the line so as to get a pull on the frightened beast, in whose tough hide the harpoon held fast. The consequence was that, while the mate was urging on the men in the other boat, the captain’s was being towed and the men lying on their oars.Just then there was a shout from the other boat, for the last of the flying herd had been overtaken by hard pulling; and, watching his opportunity so as to pick out a finely tusked head, the Norse harpooner there had made a successful thrust, and they, too, were fast in a great bull.The end for the poor beast first struck was now near; it was growing tired of trying to overtake the flying herd, which appeared and disappeared with wonderful regularity and exactness. It had the boat to drag as well as to force its mighty carcass through the water, and Jakobsen drew upon the line again and again, so as to get within striking distance when the animal ceased to make efforts to dive down.“Let me come forward and send a bullet through it,” said the doctor.“Better not, sir. It may charge us, and we can stop it better with our lances. If it got its tusks over the side, we should either have a plank ripped out or be overturned.”“Do it your own way,” said the captain; and the words had hardly left his lips when Jakobsen stooped and rapidly picked up his lance, for the head of the walrus appeared above the water with its great six-inch bristles standing out above the gleaming tusks. And now it seemed as if it were determined to fly no more, but to wreak its vengeance upon its pursuers. With a loud, snorting noise it made a rush for the boat, its eyes looking wild and red, and the whole aspect of the great visage threatening to a degree.Steve’s heart seemed to give a bound, for he was close to the bows, and only a few feet from the terrible-looking monster. Involuntarily he raised and presented his piece; but Johannes uttered a warning growl that sounded exactly like that emitted by Skene, who backed away amongst the men, snarling and showing his teeth, as if saying, “I’ve got plenty of fight in me, but it isn’t fair to expect me to tackle an arctic sea-elephant like that.”Then the huge beast was close up, with head raised, and the gleaming tusks about to strike the boat’s bows, when,whish!crish! two great lances were driven into itsbreast. The recoil thrust the boat away from where the water was tossed wildly about, the animal struggling frantically, and recovering itself sufficiently from the two terrible thrusts, which dyed the clear water with crimson, to make another charge at the boat, but only to be met in the same way.There was another desperate struggle, the poor creature scattering the water with its great flippers, and the next minute, to Steve’s great relief, it was dead and beginning to sink; but Johannes seized the line, and deftly threw a ring round the walrus’s neck, gave it a few twists, and made the monster fast, in case the harpoon should after all give way, as it had with the other boat, which was now returning disconsolate, it being impossible to overtake the swimming and diving herd. Then all at once the animals turned, for something happened which brought them tearing back through the water as rapidly as they had tried to escape; and now, as they came swimming back, it was without any diving, but with serried front, eyes flashing, and tusks gleaming, in a grand charge upon the boats, and with a force sufficient to tear them into matchwood and drown their occupants in the first rush.

But they were not kept waiting long. A quarter of a mile farther on the coast trended round to the east, and there the open sheet of water became encumbered with masses of ice, upon several of which Jakobsen, whose eyes were wonderfully good and admirably trained, pointed out walrus asleep or on the watch with head thrown back.

That was enough. Andrew uttered no more gibes, but tugged at his oar with the rest, and as silently; for all knew how much depended upon their surprising the wary beasts.

“Have you ever shot walrus, sir?” asked Johannes suddenly.

“Never,” replied the captain; “but I think I shall be able to hit one.”

“Of course, sir. What I meant was, that as soon as you have hit one it will make for the water and sink. So do not be surprised after you have shot if I harpoon the beast to save it from being lost.”

“They do sink, then?”

“Yes, sir; fat as they are they go right down. I have seen many a one lost after being shot.”

“But they are so fat,” said the captain. “An animal laden like that with blubber ought surely to float.”

“You would think so, sir,” replied the Norseman, who had now replaced the spear along the thwarts and taken up a harpoon; “but they do not float.”

“Well, don’t let us lose any if you can prevent it,” said the captain; and Johannes smiled, and then answered Steve’s questions, as he busily made ready for the coming fight by thrusting the lance heads well up into the box which protected them from injury right up toward the bows, and then examined the harpoon head and shank round which the line was firmly secured.

“How long is the line, Johannes?”

“About fifteen fathoms, sir.”

“Oh, but isn’t that too short? Suppose the walrus comes to the end of the line after being harpooned. It would pull the boat under.”

“No, sir,” said the man, smiling, “because then we should cut the line.”

“But that would be a pity. Why not have it longer?”

“Because it would only be in the way, sir. A walrus seldom takes out fifteen fathoms when it dives after being struck.”

“How’s that?”

“Before it has run out that much it has to come up again to breathe.”

“I see. But suppose it swims away along the surface?”

“Ah! you’ll see then, sir,” said Johannes, smiling, “if I am lucky enough to harpoon one.”

Steve was silent for the time as, in obedience to the captain’s orders, the men rowed gently toward a huge bull which lay on the ice, displaying a magnificent pair of tusks. But suddenly something took the boy’s attention, and he seized the Norseman’s arm.

“Look!” he cried. “How lucky I saw! That harpoon is not fastened to the shaft.”

“No, sir. It ought not to be.”

“But why? Won’t it come off when you throw it?”

“I hope so, sir; we don’t want it broken. Don’t you see that the line is fastened to the head? We want the shaft to come out and float on the water, so that we can pick it up and use it again. It is almost the same as with the harpoons for the beluga.”

“Oh, I see. But wouldn’t they be better if they were made thicker?”

“No, sir,” said the man, giving the harpoon head a twist and taking it easily from the pointed end of the light pine shaft and replacing it. “That is just right, sir.”

Steve gave the Norseman a droll look.

“I say,” he whispered, “what an ignorant fellow you must think me!”

“No,” said the man, smiling. “You did not understand the things that long experience has taught us are the best; but they are very simple, and you know them now.”

“Yes, I know now. But tell me one more thing, and then I will not bother you any more.”

“Quick, then,” said the Norseman good-humouredly.

“I want to know how near you have to get before you throw.”

“We don’t throw the harpoon at all if we can help it,” replied Johannes, “but get close enough to thrust it into the seal, give it a twist to entangle it in the tough hide, and draw out the shaft.”

“Oh, look!” said Steve in a disappointed tone; for, when they were about a hundred yards away, the big bull raised his head, stared at them, and then shuffled off the block on which he lay, gave two or three heavy flops, and slid down softly into the water.

“Never mind, sir,” said Johannes calmly; “there is another yonder with finer tusks—that one to the left; and you can steer the boat so that it will be out of sight till we are quite close.”

The captain’s face, which had looked gloomy, brightened, and he followed out the instructions given; while Skene, after twice over being on the point of barking loudly at the huge beasts scattered about amongst the icefloes, appeared as if he grasped the position and the meaning of the talking-to he had received, and stood there with his feet upon one of the thwarts well out of the way of the harpooner and his line, and watched the walrus with his ears quivering and playing about, taking evidently as much interest in the proceedings as his master.

This time the boat passed several of the heavy animals, which stared at them stupidly, but did not attempt to stir, so that there would have been no difficulty twice over in striking and making fast; but the huge fellow with the grand tusks was the one they aimed for, the walrus they passed having shorter or broken teeth.

“How is it so many have their teeth damaged?” whispered Steve.

“No dentists up here to attend to them,” said the doctor, who had heard the query.

“Some break them fighting,” said Johannes seriously, for he did not comprehend Mr Handscombe’s allusion; “but very often they snap off the points through digging, them into the ice.”

“What for?”

“To drag themselves up out of the water,” replied Johannes with a look of surprise. “Now, hist!”

Steve was silent, and sat with his rifle across his lap watching the animals, several of those swimming about being young of various sizes, great, fat, shapeless creatures, more like inflated india-rubber sacks cut short than anything else.

And all this time the boat and men kept well behind a large piece of the ice-floe, which screened them effectually from the great bull. But now the time had come when they would have to row round into sight, and the captain sat ready with his piece cocked, the doctor also being prepared to follow if necessary; and, seeing this, Steve softly raised the hammers of his own rifle, and sat prepared.

Johannes noted his action, and gave an approving nod.

The boat glided round the end of the floe, and there, some sixty yards away, lay the massive bull.

The huge animal had no idea of their approach till now, when they learned the fact that it was evidently the sentinel of the herd, for it drew itself right up with a look of surprise, and the captain raised his piece.

“Not yet, sir!” cried Johannes. “Closer, closer!”

The men pulled, and they saw the bull go through some singular evolutions, as if it were kicking at something beyond and out of sight. It was so, for instantly three more walrus started into sight and plunged into the water, and, the alarm being spread, the occupants of other masses of ice and the edge of the principal floe slid and splashed heavily in, their leader having evidently cried, “Danger! Every one for himself!”

As soon as the grand old sentinel had done his duty, he prepared, with an activity not to have been expected, to take care of himself, all of this having been the work of half a minute; but the boat was now within thirty yards, and gliding nearer, when the captain fired two shots rapidly one after the other.

“Pull!” roared Johannes, and the men dragged at their stout ashen blades; and as the bull, which did not seem even staggered by the heavy bullets, plunged down from the side of the floe, the Norseman reached it and drove the harpoon right into its back, giving a twist with his wrist, and drawing back with the thin pine shaft, as the line ran rapidly out over the bows, following the walrus which had disappeared.

“No, missed!” cried one of the Norsemen from the second boat; and as Steve glanced in that direction he saw that they were pulling hard, apparently after nothing, for not a walrus could be seen.

Then, with Johannes erect in the bows, armed with his great lance, the boat was pulled in the direction in which the line was running out, and for a moment Steve was startled, for all at once a hundred heads almost together appeared above the surface some distance before them, there was a burst of sniffs and snorts as the animals took breath and instantly dived down again, their flippers appearing above the surface, and then they were gone.

The great bull appeared, too, and dived once more before the line was run out; and when the herd, after which the other boat was in full chase, had appeared in the same way two or three times, breathed, and dived again, Jakobsen began to manipulate the line so as to get a pull on the frightened beast, in whose tough hide the harpoon held fast. The consequence was that, while the mate was urging on the men in the other boat, the captain’s was being towed and the men lying on their oars.

Just then there was a shout from the other boat, for the last of the flying herd had been overtaken by hard pulling; and, watching his opportunity so as to pick out a finely tusked head, the Norse harpooner there had made a successful thrust, and they, too, were fast in a great bull.

The end for the poor beast first struck was now near; it was growing tired of trying to overtake the flying herd, which appeared and disappeared with wonderful regularity and exactness. It had the boat to drag as well as to force its mighty carcass through the water, and Jakobsen drew upon the line again and again, so as to get within striking distance when the animal ceased to make efforts to dive down.

“Let me come forward and send a bullet through it,” said the doctor.

“Better not, sir. It may charge us, and we can stop it better with our lances. If it got its tusks over the side, we should either have a plank ripped out or be overturned.”

“Do it your own way,” said the captain; and the words had hardly left his lips when Jakobsen stooped and rapidly picked up his lance, for the head of the walrus appeared above the water with its great six-inch bristles standing out above the gleaming tusks. And now it seemed as if it were determined to fly no more, but to wreak its vengeance upon its pursuers. With a loud, snorting noise it made a rush for the boat, its eyes looking wild and red, and the whole aspect of the great visage threatening to a degree.

Steve’s heart seemed to give a bound, for he was close to the bows, and only a few feet from the terrible-looking monster. Involuntarily he raised and presented his piece; but Johannes uttered a warning growl that sounded exactly like that emitted by Skene, who backed away amongst the men, snarling and showing his teeth, as if saying, “I’ve got plenty of fight in me, but it isn’t fair to expect me to tackle an arctic sea-elephant like that.”

Then the huge beast was close up, with head raised, and the gleaming tusks about to strike the boat’s bows, when,whish!crish! two great lances were driven into itsbreast. The recoil thrust the boat away from where the water was tossed wildly about, the animal struggling frantically, and recovering itself sufficiently from the two terrible thrusts, which dyed the clear water with crimson, to make another charge at the boat, but only to be met in the same way.

There was another desperate struggle, the poor creature scattering the water with its great flippers, and the next minute, to Steve’s great relief, it was dead and beginning to sink; but Johannes seized the line, and deftly threw a ring round the walrus’s neck, gave it a few twists, and made the monster fast, in case the harpoon should after all give way, as it had with the other boat, which was now returning disconsolate, it being impossible to overtake the swimming and diving herd. Then all at once the animals turned, for something happened which brought them tearing back through the water as rapidly as they had tried to escape; and now, as they came swimming back, it was without any diving, but with serried front, eyes flashing, and tusks gleaming, in a grand charge upon the boats, and with a force sufficient to tear them into matchwood and drown their occupants in the first rush.

Chapter Twenty Eight.Steve’s New Pet.The reason for the change of front from flight to a brave attack was this. As the second boat was returning with her disappointed crew, they drove back a member of the herd that had been left behind in the shape of a calf, which, to escape this second boat, swam and dived with such bad choice of direction that, unseen before, it all at once popped its droll-looking head out of the water close to where Steve was sitting looking at their huge prize. Possibly it was the dead walrus which had attracted the young one and brought it so close.Skene was the first to see the absurd-looking little creature, and, planting his feet upon the gunwale, he barked himself into a state of terrible excitement, driving the young walrus into hiding beneath the water, but only to come up again from time to time to breathe.The young walrus could not understand the remarks made about its personal appearance, or else in all probability it would have swum away; for the shapeless creature was dubbed “bladder of lard,” “skin of oil,” “prize pig,” and the like, though Steve stuck to the notion of its being like a short india-rubber sack, blown full of wind, so little did head or flippers project from the blubber-distended body.“Oh, I say, Johannes, couldn’t you catch it?” cried Steve. “The poor thing believes that is its mother.”“Yes, sir, and will not go away till we begin to row.”“Couldn’t you catch it?”“Oh yes, sir, I could catch it, I daresay,” replied the Norseman, “if the captain wishes.”“But I do not wish,” said Captain Marsham. “What do you want with a young walrus?”“To bring up and tame,” replied Steve, with the impression the while that he was saying something rather absurd.“Have a big one,” cried the doctor, “and let’s form a zoological garden!”“I don’t see anything to laugh at,” said Steve. “It would be very interesting to watch the habits of the curious animal, and we’ve driven its mother away. What would become of it, Johannes, if it is left?”“Bear,” said the Norseman laconically.“There!” cried Steve, looking at the captain.“Try and catch it,” said the latter quietly; and, giving Steve a smile and a nod, the Norseman took hold of the end of a coil of line, made a noose, and, watching his opportunity, threw it cleverly over the head end of the calf.“Hurrah! got him first throw!” cried Steve. “No: gone!”For the rope on being tightened glided over the slippery hide and came away, while the calf dived, turning over like a round cork float, showing its hind flippers, and then it was out of sight.“There’s nothing to catch hold of, sir,” said Johannes good-humouredly, as he stood there with the noose gathered up in one hand, the coils of line in the other; “but he’ll be up again directly.”Johannes stood so quick and watchful that, as the calf’s head popped out of the water again, a ring of rope fell round it and was tightened at once, but with no better fortune. Again and again the Norseman tried; but the little creature was too slippery, and gave way, so that it was like trying to lasso a huge egg bobbing about on the surface.“Give it up,” said the captain at last; but it was just as the ring of line fell once more round the plump, swimming and diving object, and Steve’s feeling of disappointment gave way to delight, for fortune smiled upon the Norseman’s efforts at last, or else the little walrus threw one flipper over the rope and hugged it to its fat side, with the result that the line was tightened with a snatch, and its egg-like body was suddenly compressed into a dumb-bell shape.“Got him!” cried Steve joyfully, and Skene nearly jumped overboard in his excitement, barking the next minute furiously, while his master stopped his ears; for the calf, as it was dragged toward the boat, first set up a whimper, and then broke out into a series of snorts, barks, and squeals, which gave it a strong resemblance to a pig being coerced into quiescence while undergoing the ornamentation to its nose known as ringing.At the first dismal squeal, but unnoticed by the occupants of the boat, the walrus herd stopped its retreat, at the second it turned, and at the third it came rushing back as fast as it could tear through the water.But little heed was paid to this in the excitement of dragging the heavy calf over the side; for it “gave” in every way. There seemed to be nothing to grasp or of which to get a good grip, while to have hauled the animal in by the thin line looked like trying to cut it in two, as a shopkeeper does soap or cheese. But at last Andrew “got a han’,” as he called it, of one hind flipper, Jakobsen of one of the fore flippers, Steve hauled in the line, and Johannes reached over and caught the other fin-like projection. Then there was a haul all together, and the squealing and snorting object rolled over the gunwale and down into the bottom of the rocking boat with what Hamish called “a squelch.”By that time a warning cry was heard from Mr Lowe’s boat, and the party with the captain gazed in dismay at the fierce-looking herd charging down.“Quick! oars!” cried the captain, and the men scrambled into their places with a scared look on their faces.“It’s the youngling’s cries has brought them down,” said Johannes calmly.“You know these brutes of old,” said the captain. “Will they attack us?”“They’ll come close up, sir; but I don’t think there’s anything to mind, or I would say throw the calf overboard.”“Yes, that might be the best thing to do.”“But I would not yet, sir. We’ll see. These things look very big and fierce, and sometimes they can fight, but it’s mostly bully and noise.”The rifles were ready, and the two Norsemen seized their lances, ready to repel any savage attack; while for a time the position of the party appeared to be one of extreme peril. But in this case it proved that, strong as was the desire of the animals to help and protect one of their young in trouble, it did not go far enough to make them run much risk. The Norsemen in both boats were ready to add to their take by lancing any aggressive individual; but the herd kept at a safe distance, calming down when the pig-like creature in the boat was quiet, and bursting out into furious snortings and shows of attack whenever the unhappy little creature remembered its trouble and burst forth into a wail.“There!” cried Johannes at last; “there is no danger. A few splashes of the oar will keep them off. Shall we harpoon another?”“No,” said the captain; “we will be content with what is done. We have the bear to get as well, so there is plenty of work.”The second boat threw a line on board, which was made fast, and with this help and the stout arms in their own boat, the dead walrus was towed along the open waterway to where the bear had been found. Then busy hands went to work skinning and flensing with such good will that at last, with both boats most unpleasantly loaded, as the doctor called it, they rowed back to the chasm and reached the ship in safety, well satisfied with their day’s work.There was no aggressive walrus herd to make its appearance now, for, in spite of an occasional wail from the captive, none of its relatives attempted to enter the passage through to the fiord, and so the tremendous uproar which arose as soon as an attempt was made to get the captive on board the steamer, and which echoed loudly from the sides of the cliffs, was laughed at merrily, the men thoroughly enjoying the task of hoisting the slippery, yielding creature on deck. This was achieved by laying a tarpaulin in the bottom of the boat, rolling the cub over, lashing the corners together, and hoisting and hauling it up to the gangway, where a little more snorting and barking of a pig-like nature resulted in the little animal settling down in the bows penned up by a couple of gratings, and going to sleep in the warm sun, evidently thoroughly appreciating the dry nature of its new bed.

The reason for the change of front from flight to a brave attack was this. As the second boat was returning with her disappointed crew, they drove back a member of the herd that had been left behind in the shape of a calf, which, to escape this second boat, swam and dived with such bad choice of direction that, unseen before, it all at once popped its droll-looking head out of the water close to where Steve was sitting looking at their huge prize. Possibly it was the dead walrus which had attracted the young one and brought it so close.

Skene was the first to see the absurd-looking little creature, and, planting his feet upon the gunwale, he barked himself into a state of terrible excitement, driving the young walrus into hiding beneath the water, but only to come up again from time to time to breathe.

The young walrus could not understand the remarks made about its personal appearance, or else in all probability it would have swum away; for the shapeless creature was dubbed “bladder of lard,” “skin of oil,” “prize pig,” and the like, though Steve stuck to the notion of its being like a short india-rubber sack, blown full of wind, so little did head or flippers project from the blubber-distended body.

“Oh, I say, Johannes, couldn’t you catch it?” cried Steve. “The poor thing believes that is its mother.”

“Yes, sir, and will not go away till we begin to row.”

“Couldn’t you catch it?”

“Oh yes, sir, I could catch it, I daresay,” replied the Norseman, “if the captain wishes.”

“But I do not wish,” said Captain Marsham. “What do you want with a young walrus?”

“To bring up and tame,” replied Steve, with the impression the while that he was saying something rather absurd.

“Have a big one,” cried the doctor, “and let’s form a zoological garden!”

“I don’t see anything to laugh at,” said Steve. “It would be very interesting to watch the habits of the curious animal, and we’ve driven its mother away. What would become of it, Johannes, if it is left?”

“Bear,” said the Norseman laconically.

“There!” cried Steve, looking at the captain.

“Try and catch it,” said the latter quietly; and, giving Steve a smile and a nod, the Norseman took hold of the end of a coil of line, made a noose, and, watching his opportunity, threw it cleverly over the head end of the calf.

“Hurrah! got him first throw!” cried Steve. “No: gone!”

For the rope on being tightened glided over the slippery hide and came away, while the calf dived, turning over like a round cork float, showing its hind flippers, and then it was out of sight.

“There’s nothing to catch hold of, sir,” said Johannes good-humouredly, as he stood there with the noose gathered up in one hand, the coils of line in the other; “but he’ll be up again directly.”

Johannes stood so quick and watchful that, as the calf’s head popped out of the water again, a ring of rope fell round it and was tightened at once, but with no better fortune. Again and again the Norseman tried; but the little creature was too slippery, and gave way, so that it was like trying to lasso a huge egg bobbing about on the surface.

“Give it up,” said the captain at last; but it was just as the ring of line fell once more round the plump, swimming and diving object, and Steve’s feeling of disappointment gave way to delight, for fortune smiled upon the Norseman’s efforts at last, or else the little walrus threw one flipper over the rope and hugged it to its fat side, with the result that the line was tightened with a snatch, and its egg-like body was suddenly compressed into a dumb-bell shape.

“Got him!” cried Steve joyfully, and Skene nearly jumped overboard in his excitement, barking the next minute furiously, while his master stopped his ears; for the calf, as it was dragged toward the boat, first set up a whimper, and then broke out into a series of snorts, barks, and squeals, which gave it a strong resemblance to a pig being coerced into quiescence while undergoing the ornamentation to its nose known as ringing.

At the first dismal squeal, but unnoticed by the occupants of the boat, the walrus herd stopped its retreat, at the second it turned, and at the third it came rushing back as fast as it could tear through the water.

But little heed was paid to this in the excitement of dragging the heavy calf over the side; for it “gave” in every way. There seemed to be nothing to grasp or of which to get a good grip, while to have hauled the animal in by the thin line looked like trying to cut it in two, as a shopkeeper does soap or cheese. But at last Andrew “got a han’,” as he called it, of one hind flipper, Jakobsen of one of the fore flippers, Steve hauled in the line, and Johannes reached over and caught the other fin-like projection. Then there was a haul all together, and the squealing and snorting object rolled over the gunwale and down into the bottom of the rocking boat with what Hamish called “a squelch.”

By that time a warning cry was heard from Mr Lowe’s boat, and the party with the captain gazed in dismay at the fierce-looking herd charging down.

“Quick! oars!” cried the captain, and the men scrambled into their places with a scared look on their faces.

“It’s the youngling’s cries has brought them down,” said Johannes calmly.

“You know these brutes of old,” said the captain. “Will they attack us?”

“They’ll come close up, sir; but I don’t think there’s anything to mind, or I would say throw the calf overboard.”

“Yes, that might be the best thing to do.”

“But I would not yet, sir. We’ll see. These things look very big and fierce, and sometimes they can fight, but it’s mostly bully and noise.”

The rifles were ready, and the two Norsemen seized their lances, ready to repel any savage attack; while for a time the position of the party appeared to be one of extreme peril. But in this case it proved that, strong as was the desire of the animals to help and protect one of their young in trouble, it did not go far enough to make them run much risk. The Norsemen in both boats were ready to add to their take by lancing any aggressive individual; but the herd kept at a safe distance, calming down when the pig-like creature in the boat was quiet, and bursting out into furious snortings and shows of attack whenever the unhappy little creature remembered its trouble and burst forth into a wail.

“There!” cried Johannes at last; “there is no danger. A few splashes of the oar will keep them off. Shall we harpoon another?”

“No,” said the captain; “we will be content with what is done. We have the bear to get as well, so there is plenty of work.”

The second boat threw a line on board, which was made fast, and with this help and the stout arms in their own boat, the dead walrus was towed along the open waterway to where the bear had been found. Then busy hands went to work skinning and flensing with such good will that at last, with both boats most unpleasantly loaded, as the doctor called it, they rowed back to the chasm and reached the ship in safety, well satisfied with their day’s work.

There was no aggressive walrus herd to make its appearance now, for, in spite of an occasional wail from the captive, none of its relatives attempted to enter the passage through to the fiord, and so the tremendous uproar which arose as soon as an attempt was made to get the captive on board the steamer, and which echoed loudly from the sides of the cliffs, was laughed at merrily, the men thoroughly enjoying the task of hoisting the slippery, yielding creature on deck. This was achieved by laying a tarpaulin in the bottom of the boat, rolling the cub over, lashing the corners together, and hoisting and hauling it up to the gangway, where a little more snorting and barking of a pig-like nature resulted in the little animal settling down in the bows penned up by a couple of gratings, and going to sleep in the warm sun, evidently thoroughly appreciating the dry nature of its new bed.

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