OUR FIRST MEETING WITH THE POLAR OX. 47 



perhaps, excepted and I stood still, decidedly taken aback. All 

 the same, I began to climb up after them, though with little hope 

 of setting eyes on the animals again. 



A short distance up the valley the tracks left it, and led 

 straight up the mountain-side among rocks and boulders. Were 

 they really trying to reach the plateau in that way ? No, it was 

 impossible, for a black wall of rock, perpendicular and unscaleable, 

 both for folk and cattle, hung threateningly over. 



As I was working my way past a sudden bend in the 

 valley, I suddenly saw both the animals standing high up on a 

 steep crag, and within range. It was merely by chance that I 

 caught sight of them, for the crag was exactly the same colour as 

 the animals, and this was the only place in the valley of that 

 particular tint. So the polar ox, I thought, seeks cover from the 

 prevailing tone of his environment, just as does the ptarmigan 

 from the stones and juniper in summer, and in the autumn, after 

 it has changed its colour, from the large patches of snow. 



But there was no time for further reflection. I was now 

 within range, and away I blazed, first at one animal, and then, 

 directly afterwards, at the other. Both of them continued to 

 stand, and yet I was sure of having hit them. I then tried giving 

 .them another round, whereupon the first animal took a couple of 

 steps forward and rolled over the crag on to the boulders beneath. 

 The other did exactly the same thing. I was not long in making 

 my way up to them, curious as I was to find out what I had really 

 shot. Both of them were stone dead, and on just tipping them up 

 a little they rolled all the way down the stony slope and came to 

 a standstill in the valley below, where they remained lying 

 between some rocks. I was quite right, they were polar oxen 

 large animals about the size of our Norwegian cattle, and so heavy 

 that it would take several men to move them. 



The next thing to be done was to set to work to skin them as 

 they lay there among the stones, and I had my work cut out to get 

 the skin off and remove the entrails, but it was done in time. 



At eight in the evening I got back to the camp, laden with 

 beef, and worn out with the day's exploits. As I was approaching 

 it I caught sight of one of the expedition going down to fetch 



