Evening star., 1923-02-11

Is one diiiiudk IAi NAS |
Arctic which demands that you
II meet him ON more equal terms
than does the polar bear, that
Won pit Your strength and your energy !
directly against his, and that you do
it without the help OF your nghting
dogs. That animal is the walrus. !;
He was known to the early explorer
and sailor az the sea horse and the
sea morse word really meaning
''whalehorse." and fitting word. too,
for walruses have been killed measur-
ing fourteen feet in length. twelve
feet IN girth and weighing three
thousand five hundred pounds!
Quite an animal this to attack in
a paper-thi skin boat only twenty
ihches wide and nine inches deep!
Yet that is what the Smith Sound
native is doing from early boyhood
to old age. The danger OF hunting the
walrus is shown by the large number
of fatalities in the tribe.
shall never forget my first en-
counter with walruses. 1t left with me
a very healthy respect for this formi-
dable- looking brute. AS assistants to
Admiral Peary on that memorable and
successful polar trip, each Of US. when
we arrived al Whale sound, was
placed in charge Of a whaleboat and
an Eskimo crew. A herd Of walruses
was sighted, asleep on pan Of ice.
and I was called upon to make the
attack. With Torup and Bosun Muir
ply as assistants and a good crew
of harpooners and oarsmcn, l headed
for the heard. quite unsuspecting and
almost entirely ignorant as to the
proper procedure. We knew enough.
however, to caution the Eskimos not to
talk, to muffle their oars and to pull
with short strokes.
When We came within one hundred
yards of the herd I whispered to Muir
ply to take the steering oar. while
crept forward With my .351 auto
matte Winchester and crouched in the
bow beside Borup, who was clutching
his powerful Mauser. Up TO this time
the black mass Of flesh before us had
not moved. All were sound asleep in
the warm summer sun. with bellies
filled with newly dug clans.
Finally one big bull slowly lifted
his head with its massive tusks and
calmly surveyed the approaching
hoat. We expected him to give the
alarm to his sleeping family and be
cff; but no. with d don't-bothcr-me
look upon his face. he dropped his
head for another nap. ] confess that
this was :; Bit OF d shock to our cour-
age. IF that's the way he feels
about it. perhaps we are near
enough l thought to myself. How
ever, we continued sculling until We
we're within few feet of the sleeping
bodIes-so near. III fact. that I mo-
toned to the EskffHoe, crouching
behind the rail. to throw their har-
poons. They vigorously shook their
heads and said, |"Id-li. id-li!" ("You
you.'O. which evidently meant for US
to shoot
Two of the huge beasts were now
fully awake, with heads high in the
air. -.,.-..
Take the one to the left" whis-
pered to Borup. while I took careful
aim at the one at the edge Of the pan
on the right.
At the double report both dropped
their heads.
Got him. Borup. yelled, and
swung for another, wriggling toward
the water.
= = :; ::
WITH automatic action and plenty
w OF clips on the for'ard thwart,
we were able 10 sweep the pan.
After such a stream of bullets some
eh1
our complete surprise. one walrus
after another rolled over and fell
into the water with tremendous
splash until not a single one was left!
What do you think Of that?" Borup
exclaimed.
Our chagrin was short lived, how
ever. The words were hardly out Of
Borups mouth when up popped long
white tusks and red-eyed. bewhis-
kered heads all around us. The
wounded from the pan had communi-
Gated with their fathers. mothers
brothers and sisters feeding on the
bottom that they were in need of
help and here they were. Great
heavens. What mob. Enraged
clean through and saying so
Gee! They're coning!" Borup
shouted and reached for his cartridge
box. Pandemonium doesn't begin to
express what followed-a raucous
battle cry from at least forty throats,
the ugly faces constantly breaking
water, the roar OF rifles the ter
rifying yells Of the natives, the
pounding Of the rails with oars, the
throwing OF the harpoonsr and lances,
the tanele of rawhide lines. floats
and drags in the bottom of the boat!
II blood ever tingles 1t tingled then!
One big fellow even came up under
the barrel Of my rifle and hooked his
tusks over the rail. Fortunately.
none Of the others possessed equal
courage, else there might have been a
repetition of the Spizbergen accident.
when the boat was capsized and all in
it were killed. q, - = - -
Almost uncanny was the abruptness
with which the, whole thing ceased.
Was 1t possible. that they had gone
or was this the lull which generally
precedes a squall? We looked into
but there was not a sign; or sound.
Undoubtedly the leaders had been
killed and the others lacked courage
to lead another attack. Two. badly
wounded, were swimming in small
circles -Four were dead and sup
ported by the sealskin floats.
We waved our canvas hats to Capt.
Bartlett standing upon the bridge Of
tho s. s.. Roosevelt, and he was soon
,,.dAr ~av "a helm us with our catch