THE DOGS AT LIBERTY 263 



certain individuals who specially distinguished them- 

 selves in this way, like Wisting's Major. He was a 

 born hunter, afraid of nothing. Then there was Hassel's 

 Svarten; but a good point about him was that he 

 went off alone, while the Major always had a whole staff 

 with him. They usually came back with their faces all 

 covered with blood. To put a stop to this sport we had 

 been obliged to keep them fast; but now that the seals 

 had left us, we could let them loose. Naturally the first 

 use to which they put their liberty was fighting. In the 

 course of time for reasons impossible to discover- 

 bitter feelings and hatred had arisen between certain of 

 the dogs, and now they were offered an opportunity 

 of deciding which was the stronger, and they seized upon 

 it with avidity. But after a time their manners im- 



V 



proved, and a regular fight became a rarity. There 

 were, of course, a few who could never see each other 

 without flying at one another's throats, like Lassesen 

 and Hans, for instance; but we knew their ways, and 

 could keep an eye on them. The dogs soon knew their 

 respective tents, and their places in them. They were 

 let loose as soon as we came out in the morning, and 

 were chained up again in the evening when they were 

 to be fed. They got so used to this that we never had 

 much trouble; they all reported themselves cheerfully 

 when we came in the evening to fasten them up, and 

 every animal knew his own master and tent, and knew 

 at once what was expected of him. With howls of 



