Second Autumn in the Ice. 497 



but scarcely knew what to do. He took hold of it, 

 however, by the neck, and held it close to the bolt, 

 so that its tongue was less extended. After having 



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warmed the bolt somewhat with his hand, he managed to 



O 



get the tongue free. The poor little puppy seemed 

 overjoyed at its release, and, to show its gratitude, licked 

 Bentzen's hand with its bloody tongue, and seemed as if 

 it could not be grateful enough to its deliverer. It is to 

 be hoped that it \vill be some time before this puppy, at 

 any rate, gets fast again in this way; but such things 

 happen every now and then. 



" Sunday, November i ith. I am pursuing my studies 

 as usual day after day ; and they lure me, too, deeper and 

 deeper into the insoluble mystery that lies behind all these 

 inquiries. Nay ! why keep revolving in this fruitless 

 circle of thought? Better Q-Q out into the winter nio-ht. 



< * o ^> 



The moon is up, great and yellow and placid ; the stars 

 are twinkling overhead through the drifting snow-dust. . . . 

 Why not rock yourself into a winter night's dream, filled 

 with memories of summer ? 



" Ugh, no ! The wind is howling too shrilly over the 

 barren ice-plains, there are 33 degrees of cold, and 

 summer, with its flowers, is far, far away. I would give a 

 year of my life to hold them in my embrace ; they loom 

 far away in the distance, as if I should never come back 

 to them. 



" But the northern lights, with their eternally shifting 

 loveliness, flame over the heavens each day and [each 



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