; "you'll know best
whereabouts its life lies; I can make nothin' o't."

Awatok obeyed, and gave it a thrust under the left flipper that seemed
to reach its heart, for it fell back into the water and struggled
violently. At the same moment Davie Summers mounted to the top of a
hummock, part of which overhung the pool, and launched a harpoon down
upon its back. This latter blow seemed to revive its ferocity, for it
again essayed to clamber out on the ice, and looked up at Davie with a
glance of seeming indignation; while Buzzby, who had approached, fell
backward as he retreated from before it. At the same time Saunders
succeeded in getting his musket to go off. The ball struck it in the
eye, and entering the brain, caused instant death, a result which was
greeted with three enthusiastic cheers.

The getting of this enormous creature out of the water would have been a
matter of no small difficulty had there not been such a large party
present. Even as it was it took them a considerable time to accomplish
this feat, and to cut it up and pack it on the sledges.

While the battle above described was going on, two smaller walruses had
been killed and secured, and the Esquimaux were in a state of great
glee, for previous to the arrival of the sailors they had been
unsuccessful in their hunts, and had been living on short allowance. On
returning home there was a general feasting and merrymaking, and
Saunders felt that if he remained there long they would not only eat up
their own meat, but his also. He therefore resolved to return
immediately to the ship with his prize, and leave part of his men behind
to continue the hunt until he should return with the sledge.

But he was prevented from putting this intention into practice by a
hurricane which burst over the Arctic Regions with inconceivable
bitterness, and for two days kept all the inhabitants of the
snow-village confined to their huts. This hurricane was the fiercest
that had swept over these bleak regions of ice since the arrival of the
_Dolphin_. The wind shrieked as it swept round the cliffs, and down the
ravines, and out upon the frozen sea, as if a legion of evil spirits
were embodied and concentrated in each succeeding blast. The snow-drift
rose in solid masses, whirled madly round for a few seconds, and then
was caught by the blast and swept away like sheets of white flame. The
thermometer stood at 25 deg. below zero, a temperature that was mild
compared with wha