Page:Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean, vol. 3 (1826).djvu/323

 swearing he would never return without the head of the monster; and, accordingly, he tried every art he was acquainted with, to surprise it unawares, for when it was conscious of being pursued, nobody had any chance of coming up with it. All his address and toil, through the heat of the day, was, however, of no avail to him. Twenty times had he been on the point of plunging his short sword between its ribs, and as often had it slipped aside, and disappointed him. At last, towards evening, when all the rest, similarly engaged, had given up the chase, he fancied that the animal appeared lame, and exhausted with fatigue. Although he was scarcely otherwise himself, this idea dissipated all his weariness, and hoping that he might now run it down, he borrowed a fresh horse from the nearest house, and returning to where it lay, hid in its lair, he forced it to rise, and betake itself to that same plain over which he had first pursued it, in company with Hendrick. He had now no doubt that it was maimed, for it ran with a limping gait, and with less speed than before. However, it managed to keep him at too great a distance behind to wound it, and, taking the same course it had formerly done, it led him