48 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



of the expedition, affirming that it was a simple 

 matter for a man to earn more money by re- 

 maining in Norway. Considering the dangers 

 and privations the trappers must have neces- 

 sarily endured, the complaint was perhaps not 

 wholly unjustified. 



We returned on board at nine o'clock and 

 finally settled matters with our trapper friend, 

 who, having disposed of the foxes, hurried back 

 as fast as he could to keep his eye on the famous 

 calf. The animal was at once his sole pre- 

 occupation and his one hope of gain. I gave 

 him some tobacco and cigars, for which he was 

 most grateful, his own supply having been 

 exhausted a month since. He refused other 

 provisions, assuring me that he had sufficient 

 to last two years at least. 



A few hours later we proceeded on our way. 

 We sailed in a world which was like fairyland. 

 A blazing sun lit up the Polar night ; no cloud 

 marred the magic of the sky. We proceeded, 

 taking soundings, in completion of the course 

 the Belgica followed in 1905. Without great 

 difficulty we discovered a passage ; once again 

 the ice-fields of Greenland were kind to us ! 



It was during my return from this voyage 

 in 1909 that I landed at Hope Island, to the east 

 of Spitzbergen, on the day that the Tromso 



