POST NUBILA PHCEBUS. 161 



morning at nine I give each a quarter of a pound of bread 

 and a small bit of bacon, and at six in tlie evening tlie 

 same weight of bread, and to all a half-ration of cold 

 soup with meat in it. In the morning we could still 

 have a drink of coffee ; but in the evening cocoa only. 

 Our brandy disappeared rapidly ; if we did not soon kill 

 a seal, to supply oil for fuel, we should be obliged to give 

 up warm food. Thus one can imagine that we are plagued 

 with a continual and never-satisfied wolf's craving. The 

 bread-bag and remainder of the bacon I have always 

 by my side for safety's sake. The conversation turns 

 upon nothing but eating. Max only wishes he was in the 

 Exchange Eestaurant at Bremen; Konrad would be 

 contented with a juicy beefsteak with some eggs, and 

 maintains that he could at once demolish twenty-five eggs 

 with one pound of butter and sixpennyworth of bread ; at 

 the same time, the eye falls upon the clock and counts 

 the hours which must still pass before the scanty meal 

 will recur. 



And how quietly and devotedly is the meal then taken ! 

 how busy is each trying to stifle the gnawing hunger, if 

 only for a short time ! If one could only get rid of the 

 burdensome feeling by sleep ! But scarcely does sleep 

 come than the water leaks on to our faces, or one of the 

 coats on the roof glides from the edge of the boat, 

 scattering the whole of its watery contents upon us. 



Konrad was quite sad this morning; in his sleep he 

 had consumed a portion of ham and some poached eggs 

 one after the other, but on waking felt so dreadfully 

 hollow within. The wet cold air of 39° Fahr. in the boat 

 is very disagreeable ; we shiver unceasingly. It is really 

 wonderful that we are so well, Ihongh we feel that our 



M 



