hide is not the only garment the walrus wears to protect him from the
cold. He also wears under-flannels of thick fat and a top-coat of close
hair, so that he can take a siesta on an iceberg without the least
inconvenience. Talking of siestas, by the way, the walrus is sometimes
"caught napping." Occasionally, when the weather is intensely cold, the
hole through which he crawls upon the ice gets frozen over so solidly
that, on waking, he finds it beyond even his enormous power to break it.
In this extremity there is no alternative but to go to sleep again,
and--die! which he does as comfortably as he can. The Polar bears,
however, are quick to smell him out, and assembling round his carcass
for a feast, they dispose of him, body and bones, without ceremony.

As it was impossible to drag this unwieldy animal to the ship that
night, for the days had now shortened very considerably, the hunters
hauled it towards the land, and having reached the secure ice, prepared
to encamp for the night under the lee of a small iceberg.



CHAPTER XII.

_A dangerous sleep interrupted--A night in a snow-hut, and an unpleasant
visitor--Snowed up_.


"Now, then," cried Fred, as they drew up on a level portion of the
ice-floe, where the snow on its surface was so hard that the runners of
the sledge scarce made an impression on it, "let us to work, lads, and
get the tarpaulins spread. We shall have to sleep to-night under
star-spangled bed-curtains."