stefansson-wrangel-09-31-070v

104 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

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 bullets 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 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 abdo-
men, which were still lying quietly with their heads up,
much like cows resting in a pasture.

I have told this story from my own point of view and
have given the details to show the reader what sort of
hunting methods it was we had used year after year of
self-support on the expedition of which Knight had been
a member. Uniform success under what often seemed the
greatest handicaps had developed quite naturally the firm
confidence which Knight so often expressed. I 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 won-
dering 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 the 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