chap, xxii WESTERN BAYS 301 



It was certain that the general air movement over Spits- 

 bergen was towards the north ; at that moment, a strong 

 south wind was blowing, and the heavens seemed to be 

 on the point of clearing. Hopes arose that the balloon's 

 hour might be at hand ; but Herr Andree wisely decided 

 that it was not worth while risking success, so late in the 

 year, for the sake of a second-rate chance. Even if the 

 wind was good, the weather was unsettled and far from 

 clear. A weaker man would probably have gone up ; to 

 my thinking Herr Andree, of whose determination to ascend 

 when the right time came I was and am fully assured, 

 gave evidence of real strength and judgment, in preferring 

 to return home and face misunderstanding rather than to 

 go up at an unsuitable time of year, and in weather that 

 was certainly doubtful. 



Presently Mr. Stadling came on board and gave us all 

 the news. We took on the mail for Europe, and the 

 coals. At ten A.M. the anchor was raised, and we were 

 off. " We came in by the South Gat ; which way shall 

 we go out ? " was the question. I chose Danes Gat and 

 the rough sea at once, for novelty's sake, and that we 

 might look into Robbe Bay, now deserted as the Seven 

 Islands themselves, but in old days thronged with whale- 

 fishers. The sun at last shone warm again as we entered 

 the heaving sea, the south wind blew so strongly and 

 all looked so fair, that we thought of turning back to 

 tell Herr Andree how things were, for in the enclosure 

 of his rock-bound bay the state of the weather at large 

 was hardly discoverable. It was decided to mind our own 

 business, and on we went. Robbe Bay, with its ice- 

 smoothed hills of hardest rock, was quickly passed. Then 

 we saw ridges decked with snow and crested with needle 

 rocks shining in sunlight over the end of Danes Island. 

 They belonged to what the old navigators used to call 



