Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-12-04

then my fourth shot killed her. The
Norwegian, by instinct, had grabbed
the remaining oar, and was working
vigorously toward an ice pack near
by. The boat was rapidly filling with
water, and we reached the ice just as
it was sinking. 1t was a most mirac-
ulous escape. If the old cow had cap
sized the boat when she first struck it
the Norwegian and I would have
never lived to tell the story, for it
would have been impossible for US to
swim in the icy water.
"We reached the ice none too soon,
anyway. The angry whistling of the
dying cow, the crack of my rifle, and
the commotion in the water had alarm
ed all the walruses in the vicinity, and
big pod plunged off of an ice pack
and came over to see what the rumpus
was about. The sight of the dead COW
set them wild, and the water round
about was soon seething mass of hum
dreds of walruses. The big bulls would
give screaming whistles in their anger,
as they dived and split the waves with
their long, sharp tushes. A mans life
would not have been worth straw if
sailing in dinky in the midst of that
pod of angry walruses. Once on the
ice we were not yet safe. The tenn
perature was 40 degrees below Zero,
and we had to run around on the ice
for one hour to keep from freezing to
death. The water in the boat had
turned to ice on our fur clothing. Our
whaling vessel was three miles away
but the lookout had seen our narrow
escape, and he sent big whale-boat,
manned by five men, to rescue US.
The pod of angry walruses only lin
gered around the ice for a half hour,
and then disappeared. So we were
rescued with safety.
"When a walrus bunter makes a
landing on an ice pack on which is
pod of walruses, the rule among the
whalers is that he must remain and
keep shooting as long as the walruses
stay there. The longest period that
remained on an ice pack shooting
walruses was forty-eight hours, with
out sleep. The temperature was fifty
degrees below zero but the sun was
shining and no wind, was blowing.
The captain of the whaling vessel sent
food and coffee to me by the other men.
wore a big sealskin mitten over a
buckskin glove on my right hand,
which I used on the trigger of my gun.
While lying behind a dead walrus
shooting for hours at time have Of
ten felt my right hand getting benumed.
l would take off the glove and nit
ten and stick my hand in the ice water,
put the glove and mitten on again
quickly, and then rub the hand and
start a glow. Then I would rip open
the body of walrus I had just killed, !,
and stick my right hand inside and
warm it by the animal heat that yet
remained in the carcass. In this way
I prevented my hand from being frozen.
"I almost lost my life during that
period of 4S hours of walrus. shooting.
The Norwegian who was with me
during the fight with the walrus COW
saved me. Through constant work
and loss of sleep had become exhaus.
ted. As raised my gun and rested
the barrel on the body of dead wal.
rus and was taking aim to shoot ! fell
asleep. In a short time I would, OF
course, have frozen to death. Luckily,
the Norwegian came up with some
coffee and aroused me, and saved my
life.
"The most powerful animal of the
Arctic regions is the polar bear. AS
the lion is the king of beasts in equa-
torial Africa, the polar bear is the
monarch of the animal world near the
North Pole. I have seen a polar bear
with one stroke of its paw kill wal
rus bull that was larger than Texas
steer. Then the bear would pick up
the big carcass and carry it in its jaws,
lump into the sea and swim away, and
pull the carcass up onto another ice
pack. Captain Hooper, of the revenue
cutter Thomas Corwin, told me that
be shot a polar hear which weighed
1000 pounds when dressed. So, you
see, polar bear is a powerful beast.
Polar bears are wonderful swimmers,
as have seen bear in the sea 30
miles from ice or land. They live on
walrus. The polar bear rarely bothers
a walrus shooter, unless the two hap
pen to come together on an ice pack
suddenly. These bears have plenty
to eat, as rule, and it is generally a
hungry bear that deliberately goes
after a man."
naOUINN DnI1Nn UNI.EN