Jules Verne's Captain Hatteras - Part 2: Ice Desert

Chapter 5 - The Seal and The Bear

Hatteras and the doctor returned to the ice shelter.

Hatteras: You know that the polar bears hunt seals which are their primary food. They wait at the mouth of the ice cracks for many days and they strangle them between their paws right after they surface. So a bear can't be scared of a seal's presence, on the contrary.

Clawbonny: I think I understand your plan; it's dangerous.

Hatteras: But there's big chances of success, so we have to use it. I'll wear this seal skin and slip on the ice field. Let's not waste more time. Load the rifle and give it to me.

The doctor had nothing more to say; he would have tried it himself; he left the ice house taking with him two axes, one for Johnson and the other for himself; then, accompanied by Hatteras, headed towards the sleigh.

There, Hatteras puts on the seal skin that entirely covered him.

At this time, the doctor loaded the rifle with the last remnants of gunpowder, then slipped through the pipe the mercury bullet which was as tough as iron and heavy as plumb. When this was done, he gave the rifle to Hatteras, who hid it under the seal skin.

Hatteras: Go, join Johnson; I'll wait a few minutes to mislead my adversary.

Clawbonny: Courage, Hatteras!

Hatteras: Stay calm and especially don't reveal yourself before my gunfire.

The doctor immediately reached the hummock which Johnson hid behind.

Johnson: Well?

Clawbonny: Well, we have to wait! Hatteras is sacrificing himself to save us!

The doctor was nervous; he looked at the bear, who gave signs of a violent agitation, as if feeling threatened by an eventual danger.

One quarter of an hour later, the seal dragged on the ice; it made a detour, at the shelter of the big ice blocks, to fool the bear; it was at fifty irises from him.

He saw it and tried to crouch, if we can say it like that, to hide from it.

Hatteras masterfully imitated the seal's movements and, had he not been notified, even the doctor would have been fooled.

Johnson: (in a quiet voice) Yes, that's good!

The amphibian, still advancing towards the animal, didn't seem to see him; it gave the impression that it's searching for a crack through which he can return to his natural habitat.

In turn, the bear, detouring the ice, advanced towards it very cautiously; his shiny eyes gave away his greed that took him over; for a month, perhaps even two, he hungered and nature gave him an easy prey.

Soon, the seal was at less than ten paces from its enemy; he suddenly showed up, made a giant leap and, surprised, spooked, he stopped at three paces from Hatteras, who, throwing his seal skin, with a knee stuck in ice, aimed him at his heart.

The bullet left and the bear fell on the ice.

Clawbonny: Forward! Forward!

And, followed by Johnson, they rushed to the scene of this performance.

The giant animal rose up, hitting the air with one paw, while the other wrenched a fistful of snow to cover up the wound.

Hatteras didn't move; he waited with a knife in hand. But he aimed good and hit with a good bullet, with a hand that didn't shake; before his comrades arrived, his knife was already stuck in the animal's neck, who fell without ever rising again.