168 THE RETURN TO FRAMHEIM 



have had enough food, but where on earth had they got 

 it from? The depot was absolutely untouched, in spite 

 of the fact that the lumps of pemmican lay exposed to 

 the light of day and were very easy to get at; besides 

 which, the snow on the dejjot was not so hard as to 

 prevent the dogs pulling it down and eating up all the 

 food. Meanwhile the dogs had left the place again, as 

 shown by the fresh trail, which pointed to the north. 

 We examined the tracks very closely, and agreed that 

 they were not more than two days old. They went 

 northward, and we followed them from time to time on 

 our next stage. At the beacon in 82° 45', where we 

 halted, we saw them still going to the north. In 82° 24' 

 the trail began to be much confused, and ended by 

 pointing due west. That was the last we saw of the 

 tracks; but we had not done with these dogs, or rather 

 with their deeds. We stopped at the beacon in 82° 20'. 

 Else, who had been laid on the top of it, had fallen 

 down and lay by the side; the sun had thawed away 

 the lower part of the beacon. So the roving dogs had 

 not been here; so much was certain, for otherwise we 

 should not have found Else as we did. We camped at 

 the end of that stage by the beacon in 82° 15', and shared 

 out Else's body. Although she had been lying in the 

 strong sunshine, the flesh was quite good, when we had 

 scraped away a little mouldiness. It smelt rather old, 

 perhaps, but our dogs were not fastidious when it was 

 a question of meat. 



