246 Chapter VI. 



' Fox.' Probably they went off in terror on the first 

 appearance of the three bears. They may have been 

 hurt, but I have seen nothing to surest this. The 



o <_>o 



ice is quiet this evening also, only a little pressure about 

 7 o'clock. 



" Monday, October 1 6th. Ice quiet and close. Obser- 

 vations on the 1 2th placed us in 78 5' north latitude. 

 Steadily southwards. This is almost depressing. The 

 two runaways returned this morning. 



"Tuesday, October 1 7th. Continuous movement in 

 the ice. It slackened a little again during the night ; 

 some way off to starboard there was a large opening. 

 Shortly after midnight there was strong pressure, and 

 between 11 and 12 a.m. came a tremendous squeeze; 

 since then it has slackened attain a little.' 



o 



"Wednesday, October iSth. When the meteoro- 

 logist, Johansen, was on deck this morning reading 

 the thermometers, he noticed that the clogs, which are 

 now r tied up on board, were barking loudly down at some- 

 thing on the ice. He bent over the rail astern, near the 

 rudder, and saw the back of a bear below him, close in at 

 the ship's side. Off he went for a gun, and the animal 

 fell with a couple of shots. We saw afterwards by its 

 tracks that it had inspected all the heaps of sweepings 

 round the ship. 



" A little later in the morning I went for a stroll on 

 the ice. Hansen and Johansen were busy with some 

 magnetic observations to the south of the ship. It was 



