54 NEW LAND. 



we started up towards them. Fosheim opened fire, but it was so 

 dark that we were both obliged to fire several times before the 

 animals fell, and when at last they did so, we both ran up to 

 them. As we were standing, turning them over and looking 

 at them from every point of view, one of them suddenly came 

 to life again. I called to Fosheim, who had loaded again, that 

 he must shoot; but before he was ready the animal was on its 

 legs. When he did fire he missed his mark, and the ox set 

 off full speed down the slope, and disappeared on the other side 

 of the sands, with the bullets whizzing after it. To follow 

 our quarry was an impossibility, on account of the darkness, and 

 we had therefore to content ourselves with removing the entrails 

 from the animals we had killed, after which we returned to camp. 



The next day Fosheim went off after his wounded animal, 

 whilst I walked up the big valley, where our tent was pitched, to 

 look for more game. On the stream which ran through the valley 

 there was high ' shell ice,' of the bubbly, freshwater kind -often to 

 be found on streams, and as I was crossing it, through I went, with 

 much cracking and noise. At the same moment that the ice broke, 

 an extraordinary apparition sprang up from the opposite bank. It 

 was drift-white, ran on two legs, and looked absolutely like a little 

 boy in his shirt. I was within range, and could well have fired, 

 but was so taken aback that I could only stand still and wonder 

 what in the world it could be. It was not until the figure was 

 some three or four hundred yards off that it occurred to me that it 

 was a hare. It seems to be a fact that the hares up here run long 

 distances on their hind-legs, a thing I never knew before. 



I had had great expectations of this valley, but I was doomed 

 to disappointment. It consisted of broken ground covered with 

 boulders and grit, and was almost without a trace of vegetation. 

 On the other hand, it was without doubt a common passage of the 

 polar oxen, probably to a valley farther west ; for there was in it 

 a broad path, very much like our cattle-paths at home in Norway, 

 and every moment I expected to see the smoke from a ' saeter ' 

 chimney ascending from amid the rocks. At our usual supper- 

 hour I was back at camp, the whole of my bag being a solitary 

 hare. 



