AN ARCTIC RESIDENCE 265 



above. This entailed a straight uphill climb over 

 very bad ground to a height of about 1500 feet. 

 Being somewhat out of condition, I felt the effort, 

 but once on the high ground the walking was 

 better, and we progressed for another mile or two 

 without seeing any sign, old or fresh, of reindeer. 

 My guide now seemed somewhat tired, as he was 

 only just recovering from the serious accident he 

 had recently experienced in falling into the hold 

 of a ship, so we halted for a while and had lunch. 

 Then came another climb of about 500 feet, and 

 we worked westward across the island towards 

 another plateau overlooking the sea, which Erik 

 said was known as a favourite resort of the deer. 

 This entailed a long circuit that took us till three 

 in the afternoon, when we must have walked from 

 the house at least fifteen English miles. I was 

 getting a bit tired, whilst my companion was com- 

 pletely " done," when we came at last to the ridge 

 overlooking the sea. There was nothing in sight, 

 nor had we seen a single fresh sign of deer, and 

 my companion was quite at a loss to know where 

 they had roamed. We lay down, had some more 

 food, and discussed the problem before us. I 

 could not spend another day on the mountains; 

 was there no other ground we could work on the 

 way home? "Well," said Erik, "there is just 

 one place they may be, and that is in a small valley 

 not many hundred yards to our right. Let us look 

 there, and if we do not find them we must return 

 home, for I am exhausted." 



Accordingly we moved on. I was for the moment 

 behind Erik, and glancing past him, suddenly saw 

 a pair of large horns coming up a ridge right in 



