Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-21

the boat TO get at Or upset SOu-"O
never could make out which and didn't
care, as the result to us would nave
been the same-or else try to ram
your boat and stove holes in 1t.
"'Get in a mixup with herd, where
every man In the whale boat is stand
ing by to repel boarders, hitting them
over the head with oars, boat hooks,
axes and yelling like cheering sec
ton at a football game to try to scare
them off, with the rifles going Ike
young Calling guns and the walruses
believing from pain and anger, COM
ing to the surface with mad rushes,
sending the water up in the air till you
would think a flock Of geysers was
turned loose in your immediate vi"4n-
1ty-oh, it's great!
"'When we were walrus hunting the
Roosevelt would steam along with all
hands on the watch. Then suddenly
a keen eyed Eskimo would sing out.
.'Awick swain or possibly, "Awtck
te1iickswahP' "WalruS! "a great
many walrus!'
a Lively Mixup.
awe would look to see If there were
enough of the animals to make raid
worth while Then if the prospect was
satisfactory the Roosevelt would steam
along to Ieeward, for if they smelled
her smoke they would make up and
we would never see them again.
"T shall never forget my first mix
ND with a herd. We had sighted about
ten walruses two miles away, and NC
MILAN and 1, Dennis Murphy, a sailor,
and three EskimoS manned whale
boat, and of we went About 2OO
yards from the walruses we quit row.
ing and let Murphy scull us, while Mac
and 1 croached side by side In the
bow, the Eskimos, with their harpo"ns,
being ready right behind us.
"'When we were about twenty yards
from the herd one bull woke up, gave
a grunt, poked another, woke him, and
then bang, bang, bang, we opened nre.
Mac had a 351 Winchester automatic
rife, and he got off FIVE shots so fast
that before the first one left the muZ-
gle the other four were chasing It
He dropped a large bull, which gave
conyulsive flop and rolled into the wa
ter with a splash. 1 hit couple, and
with hoarse grunts of pain and fury
they all wriggied of the ice and diVed
out of sight The boat was hurried
to within five yards of Macs bull, and
an Eskimo hurled a harpoon, hit the
bull and threw overheard the SealSkin
float. At this stage of the game about |
forty other walruses that had been |
feeding below came up to the surface |
to see what the noise was about, spit !
ting the clam shells out Of their |
mouths and snorting. The water was !
alive with the brutes, and many were |
so close TO US that we could hit them |
with the oars. A harpoon was driven |
into another by a corking throw, and |
Just then, when my magazine was |
empty, things began to come our way. |
Furious Charge of the Brutes,
Suddenly a large bull. followed |
by two others, all wounded, came to |
the surface twenty yards off, gave |
tongue to their battlecry and charged. |
The Eskimos were not pleased at the |
look of things. They grabbed the oars
and began to bang them on the gun
vale of the boat, yelling like so many
steam sirens, hoping to scare the in
vaders off, but they might as well
have been grooming lullabies.
MAC, who had never before shot
anything larger than a bird, was cool,
and his automatic was going off like
q pompom when we cut loose on the
charging trio. Their numerous COM
panions added to the general din, and
the reports of the rifles. the shouts and
pounding of the Eskimos, with the bel
Owing of the Infatuated animals,
sounded like Vesuvius blowing its
head off. We sank one walrus, then
disabled another, but the biggest one
lived and came up with a snort right
alongside of the boat so that he blew
water in our faces. With our guns
almost touching his head we let drive.
Ind he began to sink. With a tri-
lmphant cheer the Eskimos harpooued
him.
g Then we signaled to the Roosevelt
o come up, and as soon as the friends
Ind neighbors of the deceased smelled
he smoke they made for parts IN
rnown.'"