Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-10-30

VI.
air, he put on cloth coat, with veil at
tached, and covered his head with a wool
len cloth resembling huge dishevelled
wig But his laughable attire had not the
power to bring even a smile to the faces OF
his friends.
The unfortunates were overcome with
sorrow. They had escaped from the cap
tivity of men only to fall into that of the
elements.
Yet this exile. this Imprisonment in the
midst Of ice and gloom. seemed to have at
fractions when compared to what Yegol
had suffered in the mines of Nertchinslz and
Nadege in her life of punishment Here.
hope sustained them, As soon as the sun
returned from its long journey. they could
continue their own. They compared them
selves to those heroes of fairy tales, who
await their deliverance in forest or
chateau where some magic power has con.
fined them. The chances of safety increased
daily. Oh! that hunger had not so imperi-
ously demanded its rights and made them
feel its tyrrany!
Happily, they had passed through the
greater portion of that long night which
lasts more than month. At noon, it seem.
ed to them like midnight. In the south,
vacillated a little twilight glimmer of a pale
yellow. The sun had descended so many
degrees that it could be seen only from the
top of mountain more than thirty miles
high. When the moon did not appear in
the sky, and when the aurora borealis was
absent, in the sombre vault of the armament
there were produced only from time to time
IL minous rays traced by the silver track of
a shooting star-a rapid flash in the midst of
the deep night, spark that fell and was
extinguished in space.
But to break the frightful silence Of the
polar night, Which affected the mind still
more than the disappearance of the light,
there was only the noise produced by the
ice blocks as they broke one against another
In the incompletely solidifed places, a noise
capable of making a strange impression
when heard during this long and cold night.
Now it was hollow and continuous like the
distant surf of the sea, now sharp and pierre
ing like the noise of the INCREASED wheels
of cart. and now resounding and jerky like
the discharges of cannon.
Yegor and NJ. Latleur had begun to hunt,
but without success. The shores of the
Arctic Ocean seemed depopulated forever.
The odor of the dogs and their bowling had
driven away the white bears. Neverthe
less, they had the luck to kill two seals, the
fat of which they ate, washing it down
with tea. M. Lafeur thought it tasted
like rancid butter, but grew accustomed to
it.
Finally, Yegor and M. Lafeur decided to
hunt for white bears upon the fir Oxen sea.
The day, which for week had been grad.
ually returning, rendered this project feast.
ble
The next day, when yellowish reflection,
appearing in the south, announced the ris.
ing of the sun, Yegor and his friend de.
scended well-armed upon the ice, taking
with them the two Siberian dogs. Soon, 9
first jet of light broke forth, and then the
sun itself emerged, the color of blood, with
its disk gnawed by the mist. The snowy
lines of the coast hills and of the huge
blocks of ice took mild tinge, light pink
and the blue shadows became violet.
After an hours walk amid the accumula
lions of ice blocks, broken, crushed, and
studded with points, which the English ex-
plorers of the North Pole have called hum
mocks, and which have the appearance of a
field upturned by gigantic plough, the
hunters reached labyrinth of icebergs.
There. they saw in the snow numerous
tracks of white bears and polar foxes (these
foxes are parasites of the bears, from which
they succeed, thanks to their agility and
nlmbleness, in snatching portion of their
prey. A moment afterwards, they discov-
cred den the inhabitants of which were
absent. These caverns, two yards deep,
have TWO openings-a couple OF bears nave
scarcely sufficient room to lie down in one
of them.
A little further on, they saw two bears in
ambush. Near one of those round crevices
from whence seals issue for air and light
and where they come for the suns warmth
the bears had collected pile of snow be-
hind which they were hidden. At the base
of the slight mound they had pierced a hole
to allow the passage of paw. They were
watching for their prey with so much at
tention that they did not hear the approach
of the two hunters.
After waiting a few minutes, Yegor and
M. Lafeur saw the head of a seal emerge
prudently from the ice. The quickest OF
the two bears gave it blow with its claws
which brought it half dead out of the water
Then the bears precipitated themselves upon
the amphibious creature tore it to pieces,
and began to devour it.
This was favorable moment to attack
them. Yegor who had had all the trouble
in the world to restrain the two Siberian
dogs and keep them silent, released them.
On hearing them bark the bears seemed
uncertain as to whether they should allow
themselves to be attacked or beat retreat.
But already M. Lafeur had fired ball at
each Of them. The bears hesitated nc
longer, and seeing that they had to deal with
resolute hunters, vanished behind the ice
blocks.
CHAPTER XXvII.-YERMAC PAYS HIS DEBT.
Then began an animated chase across the
blocks of ice. Yegor and M. Lafeur adj
vanced, guided by the furious barking of
from time to time, the hunters saw them
climbing over the icebergs, white as them
selves, and altogether out of range Of theiI
guns.
AS they went along M Lafieur told veg.
or, who put but slight faith in what he said.
that when the ice of the sea commences to
form, in the month Of September, the white
bear female captures and kills great num-
Der of seals which it hides in the hOllows OF
some rock Afterwards it goes into the in.
terror of the country to gorge itself with
lchens, in order to create in its stomach
sort of mechanical obstruction; then, it
returns to its magazines of provisions and
fills itself with as much seal fat as it can
hold. This done, it takes up winter quar-.
tiers in a hole it has dug in the side of a
glacier.
.i1J IF