Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/288

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flesh of the reindeer, yet it is much as we do "canvas-*backs;" and, for a long and steady pull, there is nothing like the "Awak," as they call the walrus, in imitation of its cry. To them its flesh is what rice is to the Hindoo, beef to the Gouchos of Buenos Ayres, or mutton to the Tartars of Mongolia.

The proposed hunt came off successfully. Hans and the old man set out with all of their tackle in fine order, and found a numerous herd of walrus swimming near the edge of the ice. They were approached with caution, on all fours, and were not alarmed. The hunters reached within a few feet of the water. They both then lay down flat on the ice and imitated the cry of the animals of which they were in pursuit; and the whole herd was soon brought by this means within easy reach of the harpoon. Rising suddenly, Hans buried his weapon in a good-sized beast, while his companion held fast to the line and secured his end of it with the iron spike of a lance-staff, which he drove into the ice and held down firmly. The beast struggled hard to free itself, floundering and plunging like a wild bull held by a lasso, but all without avail. With every opportunity Hans took in the slack of the line and secured it, and at length the struggling prey was within twenty feet of the hunters. The lance and rifle now did their work very expeditiously; the frightened comrades of the dying animal rushed away through the waters with loud cries of alarm, their deep bass voices sounding strangely through the darkness. The edge of the ice proved to be too thin to bear the captured game, and, having secured it with a line, it was allowed to remain until the following day, when, the ice having thickened with the low temperature, the flesh was chopped out