Second Autumn in the Ice. 493 



He, I feel certain, sits yonder at home often thinking 

 of us ; but he knows not where his thought can seek 

 the Fran i- in the great white tract around the Pole. 

 But he knows his child ; and though all else lose faith 

 in her, he will believe that she will hold out. Yes, 

 Colin Archer, could you see us now, you would know 

 that your faith in her is not misplaced. 



" I am sitting alone in my berth, and my thoughts 

 glide back over the two years that have passed. What 

 demon is it that weaves the threads of our lives, 

 that makes us deceive ourselves, and ever sends us 

 forth on paths we have not ourselves laid out, paths 

 on which we have no desire to walk ? Was it a mere 

 feeling of duty that impelled me ? Oh, no ! I was 

 simply a child yearning for a great adventure out in 

 the unknown, who had dreamed of it so long that at 

 last I believed it really awaited me ; and it has, indeed, 

 fallen to my lot, the great adventure of the ice, deep 

 and pure as infinity, the silent, starlit polar night, 

 nature itself in its profundity, the mystery of life, the 

 ceaseless circling of the universe, the feast of death, 

 without suffering, without regret, eternal in itself. Here 

 in the great night thou standest in all thy naked 

 pettiness, face to face with nature ; and thou sittest 

 devoutly at the feet of eternity, intently listening ; and 

 thou knowest God the all-ruling-, the centre of the 

 universe. All the riddles of life seem to grow clear to 

 thee, and thou laughest at thyself that thou couldst be 



