ather being fine, we went out upon
the sea a great way, and were rejoiced to come across a bear's track,
which Eatum said was very fresh. No sooner had the dogs seen it than
away they started upon it; and over the ice and snow--rough and smooth,
right upon the track--they ran as fast as they could go.

"The bear had been sleeping behind an iceberg, and we had come upon him
so suddenly that he had not time even to get out of sight, and we saw
him almost as soon as we had discovered the track. '_Nen-ook,
nen-ook!_' cried Eatum, pointing towards the bear; and there he was,
sure enough, running as fast as he could. But, no matter how fast he
ran, we went still faster; and it could not have been an hour before we
overtook him. Then Eatum leaned forward and untied his dogs, letting
them run ahead while the sledge stopped. In a few minutes the dogs had
brought the bear to bay,--surrounding the huge wild beast, and flying at
his sides, and tormenting him in a very fierce manner. But I always
observed that they took good care to keep away from his head, for if he
should get a chance at one of them, and hit him with his huge paws, he
would mash him flat enough, or knock him all into little bits.

"While the dogs were worrying the bear we got out our weapons,--the Dean
his 'Delight,' I 'Old Crumply,' and Eatum a spear made of a narwhal
horn, and looking, for all the world, just like 'Old Crumply's' twin
brother. Then we rushed up to the bear, Eatum leading; and fierce though
the animal looked, and awfully as he roared, we closed right in upon
him, and quickly made an end of him. Then we drove off the dogs, and
tied them to a hummock of ice, while we butchered the dead animal and
secured the skin and what meat we wanted, after which we allowed the
dogs to gorge themselves. Being now too full to haul, we had to let them
lie down and sleep, while we built a snow hut, and, crawling into it,
got a good rest. Then we returned to the island, mighty well satisfied
with ourselves.

"After this we fell again into conversation about the _Oomeaksuaks_, or
ships, as I have explained before; and, having learned more and more of
the language which Eatum spoke, we got to comprehend him better, so we
fixed clearly in our minds where the place was that the ships came to,
and were fully satisfied that Eatum told the truth about it. We now
offered to give him everything we had if he would take us there, and
stay with us until the ships should come