They had been for some days on the lookout for a white bear; and had
made several excursions from the Port--going as far as the mouth of the
Seal river, which runs into Hudson's Bay a little farther to the north.
On all these excursions they had been unsuccessful; for, although they
had several times come upon the track of the bears, and had even seen
them at a distance, they were unable in a single instance to get within
shot. The difficulty arose from the level nature of the ground, and its
being quite destitute of trees or other cover, under which they might
approach the animals. The country around Fort Churchill is of this
character--and indeed along the whole western shore of Hudson's Bay,
where the soil is a low alluviom, without either rocks or hills. This
formation runs landward for about a hundred miles--constituting a strip
of marshy soil, which separates the sea from a parallel limestone
formation further inward. Then succeed the primitive rocks, which cover
a large interior tract of country, known as the "Barren Grounds."
It is only on the low belt adjoining the coast that the polar bear is
found; but the females range quite across to the skirts of the woods
which cover the limestone formation. Our hunters therefore knew that
either upon the shore itself, or upon the low alluvial tract adjoining
it, they would have to search for their game; and to this district they
confined their search.
On the fifth day they made a more extended excursion towards the
interior. It was now the season of midsummer, when the old males range
up the banks of the streams: partly with the design of catching a few
freshwater fish, partly to nibble at the sweet berries, but above all to
meet the females, who just then, with their half-grown cubs, come coyly
seaward to meet their old friends of the previous year, and introduce
their offspring to their fathers, who up to this hour have not set eyes
on them.
On the present excursion our hunters were more fortunate than before:
since they not only witnessed a reunion of this sort, but succeeded in
making a capture of the whole family,--father, mother, and cubs.
They had on this occasion gone up the Churchill river, and were
ascending a branch stream that runs into the latter, some miles above
the fort. Their mode of travelling was in a birch-bark canoe: for
horses are almost unknown in the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company,
excepting in those parts of it that consist of prairie. Throughout most
of this region the only means of travelling is by canoes and boats,
which are managed by men who follow it as a calling, and who are styled
"voyageurs." They are nearly all of Canadian origin--many of them
half-breeds, and extremely skilful in the navigation of the lakes and
rivers of this untrodden wilderness. Of course most of them are in the
employ of the Hudson's Bay Company; and when not actually engaged in
"voyaging" do a little hunting and trapping on their own account.
Two of these voyageurs--kindly furnished by the chief factor at the
fort--propelled the canoe which carried our young hunters; so that with
Pouchskin there were five men in the little craft. This was nothing,
however, as birch-bark canoes are used in the Territory of a much larger
kind--some that will even carry tons of merchandise and a great many
men. Along the bank of the stream into which they had now entered grew
a selvage of willows--here and there forming leafy thickets that were
impenetrable to the eye; but in other places standing so thinly, that
the plains beyond them could be seen out of the canoe.
It was a likely enough place for white bears to be found in--especially
at this season, when, as already stated, the old males go inland to meet
the females, as well as to indulge in a little vegetable diet, after
having confined themselves all the rest of the year to fish and
seal-flesh. The voyageurs said that there were many bulbous roots
growing in those low meadows of which the bears are very fond; and also
_larvae_ of certain insects, found in heaps, like anthills--which by
Bruin are esteemed a delicacy of the rarest kind.
For this reason our hunters were regarding the land on both sides of the
stream, occasionally standing up in the canoe to reconnoitre over the
tops of the willows, or peering through them where they grew thinly.
While passing opposite one of the breaks in the willow-grove, a
spectacle came before their eyes that caused them to order the canoe to
be stopped, and the voyageurs to rest on their oars.
Alexis, who had been upon the lookout, at first did not know what to
make of the spectacle: so odd was the grouping of the figures that
composed it. He could see a large number of animals of _quadrupedal_
form, but of different colours. Some were nearly white, others brown or
reddish-brown, and several were quite black. All appeared to have long
shaggy hair, cocked ears, and large bushy tails. They were not standing
at rest, but moving about--now running rapidly from point to point, now
leaping up in the air, while some were rushing round in circles! In all
there appeared to be thirty or forty of them; and they covered a space
of ground about as large as a drawing-room floor.
There was a slight haze or mist hanging over the meadow, which hindered
Alexis from having a clear view of these animals; and, through the
magnifying influence of this sort of atmosphere, they appeared as large
as young oxen. Their form, however, was very different from these; and
from their pointed ears, long muzzles, and full bunching tails, Alexis
could think of nothing else to compare them to but wolves. Their varied
colours signified nothing: since in these northern lands there are
wolves of many varieties from white to black; and wolves they really
were--only magnified by the mist into gigantic proportions.
Alexis had not viewed them long before perceiving that they were not
_all_ wolves. In their midst was an animal of a very different kind--
much larger than any of them; but what sort of a creature it was the
young hunter could not make out.
Ivan, who had risen to his feet, was equally puzzled to tell.
It appeared as large as half a dozen of the wolves rolled up into one,
and was whiter than the whitest of them; but it looked as if it had a
hunch upon its back; and altogether more like a shapeless mass of white
bristly hair than a regularly-formed quadruped. It must be an animal,
however, as its motions testified; for it was seen to be turning round
and round, and at intervals darting forward a pace or two, as if working
its way in the direction of the river.
Whatever the animal was, it soon became clear that it was battling with
the wolves that surrounded it; and this accounted for the singular
movements that these last were making, as well as for their fierce
barking and growling that, in confused chorus, filled the air. At
intervals, and still louder, could be heard a different sort of cry--
shrill and plaintive, like the hinny of a mule--and evidently proceeding
not from the wolves, but from the huge white animal which they were
assailing.
The voyageurs at once recognised the cry.
"A bear!--a sea bear!" exclaimed both together.
One of them stood up, and looked over the plain.
"Yes," said he, confirming his first assertion. "An old she it is,
surrounded by wolves. Ha! it's her cubs they're after! _Voila,
messieurs_! She's got one of them on her back. _Enfant de garce_, how
the old beldam keeps them at bay! She's fighting her way to the water!"
Guided by the words of the voyageur, our hunters now perceived clearly
enough that the white object appearing over the backs of the wolves was
neither more nor less than a large bear; and that which they had taken
for a hunch upon its shoulders was another bear--a young one, stretched
out at full length along the back of its mother, and clinging there,
with its forearms clasped around her neck.
It was evident, also, as the voyageur had said, that the old she was
endeavouring to work her way towards the river--in hopes, no doubt, of
retreating to the water, where she knew the wolves would not dare to
follow her. This was evidently her design: for, while they stood
watching, she advanced several yards of ground in the direction of the
stream.
Notwithstanding the fierce eagerness with which the wolves kept up the
attack, they were observing considerable caution in the conflict. They
had good reason: since before their eyes was an example of what they
might expect, if they came to _very_ close quarters. Upon the ground
over which the fight had been raging, three or four of their number were
seen lying apparently dead--while others were limping around, or sneaked
off with whining cries, licking the wounds they had received from the
long claws of their powerful adversary.
It was rather an odd circumstance for the wolves to have thus attacked a
polar bear--an antagonist of which they stand in the utmost dread. The
thing, however, was explained by one of the voyageurs; who said that the
bear in question was a weak one--half-famished, perhaps, and feeble from
having suckled her young; and it was the cubs, and not the old bear
herself, that the wolves were after--thinking to separate these from
their mother, and so destroy and devour them. Perhaps one of them had
been eaten up already: since only one could be seen; and there are
always two cubs in a litter.
Our young hunters did not think of staying longer to watch the strange
encounter. Their sole idea was to get possession of the bear and her
cub; and with this intent they ordered the voyageurs to paddle close up
to the shore and land them. As soon as the canoe touched the bank, both
leaped out; and, followed by Pouchskin, proceeded towards the scene of
the conflict,--the voyageurs remaining in the canoe.