TRAPPERS 35 



a book entitled ' Tartarin in Greenland/ Fare- 

 well, then, to my fond illusions ; farewell 

 also to my hopes of discovering bears, walruses, 

 and wild musk-oxen ! The latter had been 

 domesticated ; the former must have all been 

 destroyed or have disappeared inland before the 

 warfare waged on them by man. The devil 

 take these salaried slaughterers and may Saint 

 Hubert pardon them ! 



The motor boat was now ready. Joe, 

 Merite, Swensen, Rachlew, Louis and myself 

 started shore wards, to the spluttering, jarring 

 music of the engines. Thus we progressed 

 en prince. But motors are not to be relied 

 upon in these regions. Hardly had we covered 

 a few cable lengths before the engine broke 

 down. Happily I had taken the precaution of 

 having a boat in tow, and it was the boat that 

 now towed us to the land ice, where we disem- 

 barked between two huge stranded icebergs. A 

 reliable motor for navigating this world of ice 

 is still to be invented. In the meantime, I 

 prefer to trust myself to stout Norwegian arms 

 and oars ! 



We found the ice thin, rotten towards 

 the shore, and covered with gaping cracks, 

 through which the currents ran swiftly. The 

 slightest slip would have been serious in the 



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