Show THE polar MR er nansen describes a Tb thrilling rilling Ail adventure venture following is an account of an exciting battle with a polar bear as recorded by dr nan sen in the new york d journal after an exhausting march we at length reached a la lane ne which we had bad to 10 ferry over in the kayaks kajaks after having cleared the lane from the young ice arid anil brash I 1 drew wy wv sleigh eleigh to the edge of the ice an and was holding it to prevent it slipping pino in id when I 1 heard a ECU file behind me and Jo jogansen Joban bansen seii who ha had d just turned around arond to put his hias leiah flush with mine cried take th the e gun eun I 1 turned around and saw an ati enormous bear throwing on him and johansen on his hie back I 1 tried to feie my gun which was in a cabe on the lie floor door deck but ot at the same bame moment the kayak slipped into the iho water my aly first thought was ull io throw myself into alie alic kayak arid and fire from there but I 1 recognized recognised how risky it il would be I 1 began ban to pull the kayak with the heavy cargo on to the hi high gh edge of the ice again as quickly its as I 1 could and was on mv my knees pulling and tugging lugging to get it at my iny gun I 1 had bad no time lime to look around to see what was going on behind me ins when I 1 heird heard johames quickly say you must look charp it if you want to be in tims time loot 1001 sharp I 1 should think co fco at last I 1 got bold of the butt end dragging the gun out turned around in a sitting bitting posture ture and cocked the abbot barrel the bear was standing not two yards afi ready to make a meal of f my dog kaifas there was wag no do time lime to lose in cock cocaine iiii the othar barrel so I 1 gave it A charge ot of shot behind the tar and it fell down dead between us the bear must have followed our tracks like a cat and cov covered red by the ice block have slunk flunk up while we vi were ere clearing the ice frodi roof the lane and had bad our backs to him the only harm harin done alone was thattie that the bear had a scraped some cis he be had a white stripe on it and given iven him a blight wound on his hand kaifas had also a scratch his nose their encounters with walruses were many ind and it was with wal rug ru hide that they roofed their winter huts buts it was very u unpleasant a pleas work paddling in a light canoe formed merely of cane and canvas among beards of these monstrous beasts A walrus even when wounded can often make itself extremely dib disagreeable agreeable here is an instance towards morning we rowed for some time without seeing any walrus and now felt more secure lust just ther then we saw a solitary goli tary rover pop up a little in front of us ua johansen who was in front at the time put into s r sunken piece of ice and although 0 I 1 thought this was caution carried to excess I was on the point of follo following Z his example I 1 had not got so eo far however when suddenly the walrus a shot up beside me threw itself on the end of the kayak took hold bold further over the deck with one fure flipper and as it tried to upset me aimed a blow at the kayak with its tusk I 1 held on as tightly as possible so EO as not to be upset into the water arid and struck at the animals head with a paddle as hard as I 1 could it took hold of the kayak more and tilted me up so that the deck was wag almost under water then it let go and raised itself right up I 1 seized my gun but at the same moment it turned round and disappeared quickly as it had cornell come this walrus however had bad damaged the kayak so much that she had to be entirely overhauled the arctic night which lasts six months the year vear is thus thug vividly described by naneen it is dreamland painted in the imaginations most dt delicato licato tints it is ii color ether realized chesk the sky y is like an enormous cupola blue at the zenith shading down into green and then into lilac and violet at the edges over the ice fields there are cold violet blue shadows with lighter pink tints where a rid ridge ride e here and there catches alio last ic ie of the vanished hed day up in the blue of the the cupola shine the he speaking in g peace as they always do those unc unchanging hang ging friends frienda in the soul h elands a large red yellow moon encircled by a yellow ring and light yellow clouds floating on the blue background presently the aur aurora ora b bonaldi or tali i shakes over the vault of heaven its veil of glittering silver changing now to yellow now to green now to red tt it spreads eprea dr it contraras cont arts again in restless change next it breaks into waving many folded baad bunds of shining silver over which shoot billows of glittering rays and then the glory elory vanishes the electric light apparatus which nansen took with him was invaluable in aiding the nien men to the depressing effects of the prolonged ni night bt |