374 Chapter VI. 



penetrate it. I felt nothing of it afterwards ; it became, 

 as it were, a plate of ice armour that almost helped to 

 keep me warm. At a channel some distance off we at 

 last discovered that it was not a bear the dogs had 

 winded, but either a walrus or a seal. We saw holes in 

 several places on the fresh-formed ice where it had stuck 

 its head through. What a wonderfully keen nose those 

 dogs must have : it was quite two-thirds of a mile from 

 the ship, and the creature had only had just a little bit 

 of its snout above the ice. We returned to the ship to 

 get a harpoon, but saw no more of the animal, though 

 we went several times up and down the channel. 

 Meanwhile ' Pan,' in his zeal, got too near the edge 

 of the lane and fell into the water. The ice was so high 

 that he could not get up on it again without help, and if 

 I had not been there to haul him up I am afraid he 

 would have been drowned. He is now lying in the 

 saloon, and making himself comfortable and drying 

 himself; but he, too, did not get wet through to the 

 skin, though he was a good time in the water : the inner 

 hair of his close, coarse coat is quite dry and warm. 

 The dogs look on it as a high treat to come in here, 

 for they are not often allowed to do so. They go 

 round all the cabins and look out for a comfortable 

 corner to lie down in. 



' Lovely weather, almost calm, sparklingly bright, and 

 moonshine : in the north the faint flush of evening, and 

 the aurora over the southern sky, now like a row of 



