The Winter Night. 295 



and we could all hear him quite well ; but it sounded as 

 if he were sitting still, howling in despair. Perhaps he 

 was at an opening in the ice that he could not get 

 across. Blessing had also heard him durinsr his nieht- 



o o 



watch, but then the sound had come more from a south- 

 westerly direction. When Peter went after breakfast 

 to feed the dogs, there was the lost one, standing below 



o 



the gangway wanting to get on board. Hungry he was, 

 -he dashed straight into the food-dish, but otherwise 

 hale and hearty. 



"This evening Peter came and said that he was 

 certain he heard a bear moving about and pawing the 

 ice ; he and Pettersen had stood and listened to him 

 scraping at the snow crust. I put on my ' pesk ' (a fur 

 blouse), got hold of my double-barrelled rifle, and went 

 on deck. The whole crew were collected aft, o-azino- out 



7 O O 



into the night. We let loose 'Ulenka' and ' Pan,' and 

 went in the direction where the bear was said to be. It 

 was pitch-dark, but the dogs would find the tracks, if 

 there was anything there. Hansen thought he had seen 

 something moving about the hummock near the ship, 

 but we found and heard nothing, and, as several of the 

 others had by this time come cut on the ice and could 

 also discover nothing, we scrambled on board again. It 

 is extraordinary, all the sounds that one can fancy one 

 hears out on that great, still space, mysteriously lighted 

 by the twinkling stars. 



"Friday, December 1510. This morning Peter saw 



