324 Chapter VI. 



present occupied in inflicting- a dose of astronomy or 

 navigation upon his assistant. 



" It is something- dreadful the amount of card-playing 

 that goes on in the saloon in the evenings now ; the 

 gaming demon is abroad, far into the night ; even our 

 model Sverdrup is possessed by him. They have not 

 yet played the shirts off their backs, but some of them 

 have literally played the bread out of their mouths ; two 

 poor wretches have had to go without fresh bread for a 

 whole month because they had forfeited their rations of 

 it to their opponents. But all the same, this card- 

 playing is a healthy, harmless recreation, giving occasion 

 for much laughter, fun, and pleasure. 



"An Irish proverb says: 'Be happy; and if you 

 cannot be happy, be careless ; and if you cannot be 

 careless, be as careless as you can.' This is good 

 philosophy, which no, what need of proverbs here, 

 where life is happy ! It was in all sincerity that 

 Amundsen burst out yesterday with : ' Yes, isn't it just 

 as I say, that we are the luckiest men on earth that 

 can live up here where we have no cares, get everything 

 given us without needing to trouble about it, and are 

 well off in every possible way!' Hansen agreed that 

 it certainly was a life without care. Juell said much 

 the same a little ago ; what seems to please him most 

 is that there are no summonses here, no creditors, no 

 bills. And I ? Yes, I am happy too. It is an easy 

 life ; nothing that weighs heavy on one, no letters, no 



