. "But lie still, lads. We will take a lesson from this
fellow, who has been so earnestly staring at the walrus that he has not
noticed us."

The three men lay perfectly motionless watching the native, who crept as
near to the hole as he could without being seen, and then waited for a
few minutes until the creatures should dive. This they were constantly
doing; staying down a few moments at a time, and then coming up to
breathe--for the walrus cannot live without air. He is not a fish, and
although he can stay down a long time, he _must_ come to the surface
occasionally to breathe. In this he resembles the seal and the whale.

Presently, down they all went with a tremendous splash. Now was the
moment! the Eskimo rose, ran at full speed for a few yards, then fell
flat on his face, and lay quite still as if he had been shot dead. The
reason of this was soon apparent. He understood the habits of the
walrus, and knew that they would rise again. This they did almost the
moment after, and began their snorting, bellowing, and rolling again.
Once more they dived. Up got the Eskimo, ran a few yards further
forward, and then fell flat down as before. In this way he got near to
the hole without being seen.

The watchers observed that he carried a harpoon and a coil of thick
line.

The next time the walrus dived he ran to the edge of the hole, but now,
instead of falling down, he stood quite still with the harpoon raised
above his head ready to be thrown. In a few moments the monsters
reappeared. Two rose close at the edge of the hole; one was a male, the
other a female. They were frightfully ugly to look at. Shaking the
water from his head and shoulders, the bull at once caught sight of the
man who had thus suddenly appeared. At that instant the Eskimo threw up
his left arm. This action, instead of frightening the brutes away,
caused them to raise themselves high out of the water, in order to have
a good look at the strange creature who had thus dared to disturb them
in their watery home. This was just what the native wanted. It gave
him a chance of driving the harpoon under the flipper of the male. The
instant this was done he caught up the end of his coil and ran quickly
back to the full length of the line.

The battle that now begun was perhaps one of the fiercest that was ever
fought in the Arctic regions. The walrus lashed the water furiously for
a second or two and dived. This checked the native, w