A PLUNDERED DEPOT 169 



On January 16 we arrived at the depot in 82° S. We 



could see from a long way off that the order in which 



we had left it no longer prevailed. When we came 



up to it, we saw at once what had happened. The 



innumerable dog-tracks that had trampled the snow 



quite hard round the depot declared plainly enough 



that the runaways had spent a good deal of time here. 



Several of the cases belonging to the depot had fallen 



down, presumably from the same cause as Else, and the 



rascals had succeeded in breaking into one of them. Of 



the biscuits and pemmican which it had contained, 



nothing, of course, was left ; but that made no difference 



to us now, as we had food in abundance. The two 



dogs' carcasses that we had placed on the top of the 



depot — Uranus and Jaala — were gone, not even the 



teeth were to be seen. Yet they had left the teeth 



of Lucy, whom they had eaten in 82° 3'. Jaala's eight 



puppies were still lying on the top of a case; curiously 



enough, they had not fallen down. In addition to all 



the rest, the beasts had devoured some ski-bindings and 



things of that sort. It was no loss to us, as it happened ; 



but who could tell which way these creatures had gone? 



If they had succeeded in finding the depot in 80° S., they 



would probably by this time have finished our supply of 



seal meat there. Of course it would be regrettable if 



this had happened, although it would entail no danger 



either to ourselves or our animals. If we got as far 



as 80°, we should come through all right. For the time 

 VOL. II. 37 



