stefansson-wrangel-09-27-033

75

- 12 -

was threatened, for one animal started off determinedly at right angles. I don't
think they would have run far because of the quieting effect of the wounded that
were lying down, but in this case I was able to kill the leader and that
stampeded back those that were immediately following.

At this stage the herd did not give the impression so much of
being frightened as of being dazed or puzzled. A thing that startled me had no
effect on them - shots began to be fired behind me and the bulletp whistled over
my head. I knew in a moment, of course, that it was Emiu and was thankful that
he had not interfered sooner. He must have been two or three hundred yards behind
me and it is not likely that more than half of his bullets took effect. Whether
they did or not was a matter of no consequence, for the animals were all within
easy reach of my rifle and the stage of their wanting to run away had long passed.
When I had shot all the others I killed also the three originally shot through
the abdomen, which were still lying quietly with their heads up, much like cows,
resting at ease in a pasture.

I have told this story from my own point of view and have given
details to show the reader what sort of hunting methods it was we had used
for year after year of self support on the expedition of which Knight had been
a member. Uniform success under what often seemed the greatest hadnicap had developed quite naturally the firm confidence which Knight so often expressed.and in which he so frequently expressed his confidence thereafter.
have even heard him say, and Noice has said the same thing, that sick and five
hundred and fifty miles from the nearest neighbor they never worried about a
possible failure of the hunt. The disease of scurvy does not impair the appetite
and Knight used to say that while he kept wondering how long it would be till he
got the next square meal and that while he was also getting pretty tired of being
sick, the idea of death from starvation never bothered him. When they story has
been told either by Knight or Noice I have frequently heard the criticism, made by their audience that
they did not tell it in such a way as to bring out the element of suspense - our
distance from the nearest human beings, the illness which crippled our party and