MUSK-OXEN AT LAST 161 



sary to wait for the recurring moons of the long winter 

 night before we could do any more work. 



We had gone up there in the arctic noon, had 

 worked and hunted through the arctic twilight, and 

 now the night was upon us — the long arctic night 

 which seems like the valley of the shadow of death. 

 With nearly all the supplies for the spring sledge 

 journey already at Cape Columbia, with a good store 

 of fresh meat for the winter, and our party all in good 

 health, we entered the Great Dark with fairly contented 

 hearts. Our ship was apparently safe; we were well 

 housed and well fed; and if sometimes the terrible 

 melancholy of the dark clutched for a moment at 

 the hearts of the men, they bravely kept the secret 

 from each other and from me. 



