Farewell to Norway. i i 5 



time forth he conceived a high opinion of the Siberian 

 coast a right good place for wintering, he called it. 



On our way back we ran at full speed on to a sunken 

 rock. After a bump or two, the boat slid over it ; but 

 just as she was slipping off on the other side, the 

 propeller struck on the rock, so that the stern gave a 

 bound into the air while the engine whizzed round at a 

 tearing rate. It all happened in a second, before I had 

 time to stop her. Unluckily one screw blade was 

 broken off, but we drove ahead with the other as best 

 we could. Our progress was certainly rather uneven, 

 but for all that we managed to get on somehow. 



Towards morning we drew near the Frani, passing 

 two Samoyedes who had drawn their boat up on an ice- 

 floe and were looking out for seals. I wonder what they 

 thought when they saw our tiny boat shoot by them 

 without steam, sails or oars. We, at all events, looked 

 down on these "poor savages" with the self-satisfied 

 compassion of Europeans, as, comfortably seated, we 

 dashed past them. 



But pride comes before a fall ! We had not gone far 

 w hen whirr, whirr, whirr a fearful racket ! bits of 

 broken steel springs whizzed past my ears, and the 

 whole machine came to a dead stop. It was not to be 

 moved either forwards or backwards. The vibration of 

 the one-bladed propeller had brought the lead line little 

 by little within the range of the flywheel, and all at once 

 the whole line was drawn into the machinery, and got so 



i 2 



