The distance was, we judged, somewhere from three-fourths of a mile to a mile.

The rest of us got our glasses, and went back toward the stern to watch the effect of the shot.

Of course it is hap-hazard work, firing at so small an object at so great a distance, with a cannon, from the deck of a vessel in motion.
Nevertheless Kit made quite a show of elevating the gun and getting the range.

Presently he touched off.

The first we saw of the shot was its striking on the ice-field at a long distance short of the bear.
The bits of ice flew up smartly, and the ball must have ricochetted; for we saw the ice fly up again quite near the bear, and then at another point beyond him.