OUR FIRST MEETING WITH THE POLAR OX. 61 



all the time, and turning and twisting with every movement of 

 our honoured guest in his manceuvres to hide the ragged con- 

 dition of a certain portion of his trousers, and the large 'new- 

 seating ' to which they had been subjected. I took Peary down 

 to the sledge, and watched him disappearing at an even pace, 

 driven by his Eskimo driver. As I was turning round to go 

 back to the tent, I caught sight of Fosheim driving like mad 

 along the ice. My heart felt quite warm with patriotism. 



Peary's visit was the event of the day in our tent. We talked 

 of nothing else, and rejoiced at having shaken hands with the 

 bold explorer, even though his visit had been so short that we had 

 hardly had time to pull off our mittens. 



The next day Fosheim and I went up the fjord to fetch the 

 last ox I had shot. On the way back, we met Schei and Isachsen 

 returning from their sojourn on Jokelfjord, and ' Knibetangen,' or 

 ' the Pincers,' as we called the neck of land between to the two fjords. 

 At the station we found Olsen and the mate, who had come to 

 fetch the rest of the meat from the mountains. In order to 

 ensure this against attack from the dogs, we piled it up in a 

 heap inside the tent-door. When we had completed our work 

 outside, we all crept into the tent, and then at last were able 

 to listen to news of our friends on the ' Fram.' 



The steward had sent us an enormous cake, and it is hardly 

 necessary to say that we pronounced it excellent, to say nothing 

 of all the other good things. There was a festive feeling in the 

 air ; we puffed contentedly at our pipes, and continuous chaff was 

 bandied backwards and forwards across the ' Primus.' I had with 

 me a whole bag of tobacco, which, however, had become so damp 

 that I could not get it to light. I brought it out now, and began 

 to dry it in a frying-pan, which I hung over the oil-stove ; but 

 the smoke was so strong that the whole party turned incontinently 

 out of the tent, and I was left sitting there alone. When eventu- 

 ally they came in again, they were very pale, and demanded 

 another supper ! This I sternly refused, but referred them to 

 Isachsen, whose turn it was to be cook next day, and he promised 

 to make it up to them as soon as he came into power. 



He turned out early the next morning, and started on his 



