Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-09
CHASE FOR BEAR
One of the Exciting Incidents in
Pearys Successful Search
for North Pole.
HOT PURSUIT ON SLEDGES
Explorer Tells How Men and Dogs
Were Electrified by EsEimO's
Cry Of ''NanoOksoah.''

A most graphic account of a polar
bear hunt appears IN the April install
ment Of Commander Robert E. Peary' S
story of the Discovery of the North
Pole in Hampt0n's Magazine. 1t be-
gins:
AFTER few hours sleep we started,
straight as a crow flies, across the
eastern end Of the great glacial fringe,
headed for the mouth of Clements
Markham inlet. Reaching the mouth
of the inlet, we kept on down its east
ern shore, finding very good going, for
the tides rising in the crack next the
shore had saturated the everything
snow; then, freezing, had formed a
narrow but smooth surface for the
sledges. A little farther on we were
electrified by a tense whisper from the
ever sharp sighted E-ging -wah:
Nanooksoahr
"He was pointing excitedly toward
the center of the ford, and, following
the direction of his finger, we saw a
cream colored spot leisurely moving
toward the mouth of the florida polar
bearl
while 1 stood in front of the dogs
with a whip in each hand to keep
them from dashing away, for the Es-
kimo dog knows the meaning of ma
nOo&soah' as well as his master. the
three men were throwing things off
the sledges as if they were crazy.
Hot After the Bear.
when the sledges were empty
lowered the whips and stood to one
side. Oob-loo-yah's team shot by me,
with Oob-looyah at the upstanders.
E-ging-wah came next, and l threw
myself on his sledge as it few past.
the third team.
The bear had heard US and was
making for the opposite shore of the
ford with prodigious bounds. 1 jump
ed to the upstanders of the flying
sledge. leaving E-ging-wah to throw
himself on the bottom and get his
breath, and away we all went, wild
with excitement, across the snow COW
cred surface of the ford.
''Oob-loo-yah, with a crazy team and
only himself at the upstanders. dis
l&laCGu lAS ACSl VI us dLiiN Iii at AHt
farther shore almost as soon as the
Ieaping bear. He loosed his dogs i'm
mediately, and we could see the bear
in the distance. followed by minute
dots that looked hardly larger than
mosquitoes swarming up the slope.
Chasing the Devil.
"A most peculiar circumstance, CON-
mented on by E-gingwah as we few
along, was that this bear, contrary to
the invariable custom of bears in Es-
kimo land, did not stop when the dogs
came toward him, but kept right on
travelling. This to E-ging-wah was al
most certain proof that the great devil
terrible Tor-nar-suk-wa
in that bear. At the thought of chas-
ing the devil my sledge companion
grew even more excited.
when we reached the western shore
of the ford. up which we had seen
from a distance the bear and Oob-loo-
yah's dogs slowly climbing, both we
and our dogs were pretty well winded.
"a little farther CO we came to
deep canyon, and, as we could tell by
the sounds, the dogs and the bear were
at the bottom. But where we stood
the walls were too precipitous for even
an Eskimo to descend, and We could
not see the bear. He was evidently
under some projecting ledge on our
side.
It's Escape From Peary.
Moving up the canyon to find a
place of descent, 1 heard E-ging-wah
shout that the bear had started down
the canyon and was climbing up the
other side Hurrying back through
the deep snow and over the rough |
rocks, suddenly saw the beast per
haps hundred yards away and raised
my rife. But l must have been too |
much winded to take good aim, for, |
though fred two shots at him, the |
bear kept right on up the canyon side. |
Surely Tor-nar-suk was In himi
''T found that I had given the stumps |
II both my feet-my toes were frozen |
,ff at Fort Conger in 1S99-sOme pref
" severe blows against the rocks, and
IS they were complaining with vehe-
nence I decided not to follow the bear
my farther.
Eluc ~
old him and Koo-la-too-nah to go after
he bear while 1 went back down the
bluffs to the sledges and followed
iIong the bay ice But before 1 had
rome far along the bay ice 1 heard
Ihouting in the distance, and soon an
Eskimo appeared on a summit and
waved his hand-a signal that they
lad bagged the bear.
Just ahead of me and abreast of
where the Eskimo had appeared was
he mouth Of a ravine, and 1 stopped
he sledge there and waited. In
title while 1 saw my men slowly
working their way down the ravine.
rhe dogs which had been in at the
Ieath were attached to the bear as
{ he had been a sledge, and they were
him after them"