The Winter Night. 283 



dogs suddenly began to make a great commotion on 

 deck. \Ve were all deep in cards, some playing whist, 

 others 'marriage.' I had no shoes on, so said that 

 some one else must go up and see what was the matter. 

 Mogstad went. The noise grew worse and worse. 

 Presently Mogstad came down and said that all the dogs 

 that could get at the rail were up on it, barking out 

 into the dark towards the north. He was sure there 

 must be an animal of some sort there, but perhaps it 

 was only a fox, for he thought he had heard the bark 

 of a fox far in the north ; but he was not sure. Well, 

 it must be a devil of a fox to excite the dogs like 

 that. As the disturbance continued, I at last went up 

 myself, followed by Johansen. From different positions 

 we looked lono- and hard into the darkness in 



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the direction in which the dogs were barking, 

 but we could see nothing moving. That something- 

 must be there was quite certain ; and I had no doubt 

 that it was a bear, for the doo-s were almost beside 



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themselves. ' Pan ' looked up into my face with an 

 odd expression, as if he had something important to tell 

 me, and then jumped up on the rail and barked away to 

 the north. The dogs' excitement was quite remarkable ; 

 they had not been so keen when the bear was close in to 

 the side of the ship. However, I contented myself with 

 remarking that the thing to do would be to loose some 

 clogs and go north with them over the ice. But these 

 wretched dogs won't tackle a bear, and besides it is so 



