The Winter Night. 335 



pressure mound at some distance from here. It was in 

 the centre of what had been very violent packing, but 

 all the same the wall at its highest was not over 17 feet, 

 and this was one of the highest and biggest altogether 

 that I have seen yet. An altitude of the moon taken 

 this evening showed us to be in 79 35' N. lat. exactly 

 what I had thought. We are so accustomed now to calcu- 

 lating our drift by the wind, that we are able to tell pretty 

 nearly where we are. This is a good step northwards, if 

 we could take many more such. In honour of the King's 

 birthday we have a treat of figs, raisins, and almonds. 



"Tuesday, January 23rd. When I came on deck this 

 morning ' Caiaphas ' was sitting out on the ice on the 

 port quarter, barking incessantly to the east. I knew r 

 there must be something there, and went off with a 

 revolver, Sverdrup following with one also. When I got 

 near the dog he came to meet me, always wriggling his 

 head round to the east and barking ; then he ran on before 



o 



us in that direction ; it was plain that there was some 

 animal there, and of course it could only be a bear. The 

 full moon stood low and red in the north, and sent its 

 feeble light obliquely across the broken ice-surface. 

 I looked out sharply in all directions over the hummocks, 

 which cast long, many-shaped shadows ; but I could 

 distinguish nothing in this confusion. We went on, 

 ' Caiaphas ' first, growling and barking and pricking his 

 ears, and I after him, expecting every moment to see a 

 bear loom up in front of us. Our course was eastwards 



