230 Chapter VI. 



send a bullet into his breast at about 350 yards, just 

 as he was moving off. 



" We are making everything snug for the winter and 

 for the ice pressure. This afternoon we took up the 

 rudder. Beautiful weather, but cold, - - 18 C. (-- o'4 F.) 

 at 8 p.m. The result of the medical inspection to-day 

 was the discovery that we still have bugs on board ; and 

 I do not know what we are to do. We have no steam 

 now, and must fix our hopes on the cold. 



" I must confess that this discovery made me feel quite 

 ill. If bugs got into our winter furs the thing was 

 hopeless. So the next day there was a regular feast 

 of purification, according to the most rigid antiseptic 

 prescriptions. Each man had to deliver up his old 

 clothes, every stitch of them, wash himself, and dress 

 in new ones from top to toe. All the old clothes, fur 

 rugs, and such things, were carefully carried up on to 

 the deck, and kept there the whole winter. This was 

 more than even these animals could stand ; 53 C. 

 (-- 63 F.) of cold proved to be too much for them, and 

 we saw no more of them. As the bug is made to say in 

 the popular rhyme : 



' Put me in the boiling pot, and shut me down tight ; 

 But don't leave me out on a cold \\inter night ! ' 



" Friday, October 6th. Cold, down to 11 below zero 

 (Fahr.). To-clay we have begun to rig up the windmill. 

 The ice has been packing to the north of the Fnwi s 

 stern. As the dogs will freeze if they are kept tied up 



