Page:The white czar; a story of a polar bear (IA whiteczarstoryof00hawk).pdf/88

 was not shaped like anything in particular. The calf himself was a fat rotund bundle of flesh, weighing perhaps a hundred pounds. Anyhow he looked good to the hungry mother bear as she lay on the ice watching.

Finally she decided that the bull was asleep. The cow also seemed to be dozing. This was her chance, so she silently slipped into the water and swam slowly towards them, keeping just the tip of her nose in sight.

In this manner she proceeded until she was within a hundred feet of them. Then she inflated her great lungs and silently sank from sight. It was to be a sort of submarine attack.

For an instant, twenty-five feet nearer, the white nose again appeared. Then all was still about the walrus family.

In the meantime, the calf had decided it was time to feed and was at the water's edge calling for the cow to come down to him.

The walrus calf suckles under water, just as the young hippopotamus does. It was not until a hippopotamus in captivity gave birth to a youngster, that this fact was