CHAPTER XVI 



BY SASSEN BAY 



ON awaking (July 25) we looked forth. There was no boat, 

 but there was a fox making free with our meat at the 

 very door of the tent. He was a mighty cool animal, and 

 regarded us with contempt. Unfortunately for him his skin 

 was needed for the British Museum. He dragged a joint 

 a few yards off, and remained by it while Gregory fetched 

 and loaded the rifle which put a period to his existence. A 

 shot-gun would have been more suitable, but there was none 

 in camp, and the only rifle was an old Snider, that had been 

 banged about in African camps. The fur, of course, suffered. 

 Gregory skinned the beast, whilst I scanned the fjord for 

 a sail and smoked many pipes. Deceptive lumps of ice hove 

 in sight and disappeared, but never a sail did we see. The 

 sun moved round in the clearest sky ; a cool breeze played 

 about the tents. The sea was soundlessly still, only the 

 neighbouring burn sent a rippling voice through the bright 

 air. It was a day amongst a thousand, delicious to every 

 sense, and perfect in beauty. Some hours went uncounted 

 by in blissful contemplation, and I, for one, was looking 

 forward to a whole happy, vacuous day. It is easy enough 

 to promise one's self the enjoyment of leisure hours in perfect 

 idleness. The guests of Nature, as all men are, cannot reckon 

 without their host, and she abhors a vacuum, nor long permits 

 even a traveller to be happy unoccupied. So when the after- 

 noon came and brought no boat, by mutual consent we quitted 

 camp for an upward ramble. 



