372 NANSEN AS A MIGHTY NIMROD 



The reindeer were »till grazing quietly, only now and then raising their 

 heads to look around. My "cover" got lower and lower, and to the nortVi 

 I heard the mate. He would presently succeed in setting off my game. 

 It was imperative to get on quickly, but there was no longer cover enough 

 for me to advance on hands and knees. My only chance was to wriggle 

 forward like a snake on my stomach. But in this soft clay — in the bed of 

 the stream? Yes — meat is too precious on board, and the beast of prey 

 is too strong in a man. My clothes must be sacrificed; on I crept on my 

 stomach through the mud. But soon there was hardly cover enough even for 

 this. I squeezed myself flat among the stones and ploughed forward like a 

 drain-cutting machine. And I did make way, if not quickly and comfortably, 

 still surely. 



"All this time the sky was turning darker and darker red behind me, and 

 it was getting more and more difficult to use the sights of my gun, not to 

 mention the trouble I had in keeping the clay from them and from the muzzle. 

 The reindeer still grazed quietly on. When they raised their heads to look 

 round I had to lie as quiet as a mouse, feeling the water trickling gently 

 under my stomach; when they began to nibble the moss again, off I went 

 -through the mud. Presently I made the disagreeable discovery that they 

 were moving away from me about as fast as I could move forward, and I 

 had to redouble my exertions. But the darkness was getting worse and worse, 

 and I had the mate to the north of me, and presently he would start them off. 

 The outlook was anything but bright either morally or physically. The 

 hollow was getting shallower and shallower, so that I was hardly covered at 

 all. I squeezed myself still deeper into the mud. A turn in the ground 

 helped me forward to the next little height; and now they were right in 

 front of me, within what I should have called easy range if it had been day- 

 light. I tried to take aim, but could not see the bead on my gun. 



THE PREY MOVE ON AHEAD. 



"Man's fate is sometimes hard to bear. My clothes were dripping with 

 wet clay, and after what seemed to me most meritorious exertions, here I 

 was at the goal, unable to take advantage of my position. But now the' 

 reindeer moved down into a small depression. I crept forward a little way 

 farther as quickly as I could. I was in a splendid position, so far as I could 

 tell in the. dark, but I could not see the bead any better than before. It was 

 impossible to get nearer, for there was only a smooth slope between us. 



