346 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



impatience, pitched our tent, and hurried into it. It was still 

 blowing, and the mercury of our thermometer was frozen. 



Next morning the trail was almost covered with snow, and 

 only here and there, at rather long intervals, were we able 





NATIVE HOUSES NEAR PITT POINT. 



to see it, but it was evident that it had been used a good deal, 

 as it felt rather hard under our feet. We had travelled for an 

 hour and a half, when all at once the dogs pricked their ears, 

 sniffed at the air, and were off, pulling the sledges with our- 

 selves on top, as if the weight on the sledges had all at once 

 gone down to nothing. We rounded a point of the coast, and 

 behind it, in a small cove, we saw several houses. Some 

 children were playing outside them, and when we hallooed they 

 stopped to see what was the matter. One look was sufficient, 

 and the little ones were scattered in all directions, disappearing 

 into the houses, from which in a remarkably short time 

 emerged one crawling person after another. In what seemed 

 a never ending stream they came scrambling out and hurried 

 down to the beach to meet us. 



We let the dogs go, and in a fighting mood they pulled the 

 sledge up in the middle of the village, where all the loose dogs 

 had gathered to fight the new-comers. All mutual bickerings 

 and quarrels were forgotten in the common feeling that they 

 had to fight for supremacy, and that at once. As soon as we 

 had shaken hands with one native, off he went to the fighting 

 dogs, and with a club order was soon restored. As a further 

 assurance of peace all the dogs belonging to the village were 

 tied up, and ours, which were left running at large, were soon 



