After a hurried though careful look to see if we had four or five oars, five harpoons, lines, floats, two rifles, and ammunition, we would cry, 'Stand by to lower away'; and as the _Roosevelt_ slackened speed we would slide down the davit ropes, man the oars, and go out to look for trouble--which we usually found.
"We would get as near as possible to the walruses on the ice.

If they were sound asleep, we could row to within five yards and harpoon a couple; but generally they would wake up, when we were about twenty yards away, and begin to slide off into the water.

We would then shoot, and if they attacked us it was easy to harpoon them; while if they started to leave the country, it might be a Marathon race before we got close enough to make the harpoons fast in their hides.
"A walrus when killed will go to the bottom like a ton of lead, and our business was to get a harpoon into him before that event took place.

The harpoon is fastened to the float by a long thong made of sealskin, and a float is made of the entire skin of a seal filled with air for buoyancy.
"A thing we soon learned to look out for was to let this thong, which was neatly coiled up like a lasso before it was thrown, have the right of way and all the space it needed; for if it happened to take a turn around one of our legs when the other end was fast to a walrus, we would be missing that useful member, and be pulled into the water--and possibly drowned.
"Now a crew that goes through a scrimmage with these monsters develops teamplay of a high order in a surprisingly short time.

The sailor would steer, four Eskimos would row, and in the bow would be the best harpooner with one of us beside him.