138 NEW LAND 



something wrong about this, I thought, when all at once I 

 discovered that it was a herd of polar oxen, which were charging 

 our dogs at a furious gallop ! The dogs, of course, were perfectly 

 unconscious of what was going on, they were standing gazing quietly 

 up at the meat. 



Now began a race between the oxen and ourselves, to reach 

 the dogs ! We had, indeed, a good start, but would it be of any use ? 

 The oxen were gaining on us with such rapidity, that we should 

 have to put our best legs foremost, if we wished to get there first, 

 and we did put them foremost ; we ran till the grit flew in all 

 directions, and really won the race. Bay seized his gun from 

 his load ; I, the camera, from mine. Just then the whole herd 

 came to a sudden standstill a hundred and fifty yards off, where 

 they stood immovable, sniffing the air, and gazing inquisitively at 

 us. They remained standing like this for a while, and then, after 

 they had gazed their fill, slowly retreated. 



We remained quietly at this place for two days, and let the 

 dogs eat all they could. After the wind had gone down we 

 went up on to some rising ground to get a view over the sur- 

 rounding country, and took a number of photographs up there. 

 It was a beautiful, quiet, sunny day ; nature had been transformed, 

 as it were, by a single stroke ; there, where a few days before we 

 had met nothing but ice and cold, were now quiet grazing herds of 

 polar oxen. They had taken refuge in the more sheltered lateral 

 valleys during the stormy weather, and had now been enticed back 

 by the sunshine; altogether we must have seen as many as a 



*. 



hundred of them. 



We stuffed the dogs with chopped meat, kept the skins and 

 the best joints, and the next day drove down the valley in good 

 weather along the ice on the river. A short distance down the 

 valley, and a little way from the bank, we observed lying a polar 

 heifer ; it had been torn to pieces by wolves, and was still smoking. 

 We saw from the tracks that it had been alone, and had been un- 

 expectedly attacked by wolves, which had overcome the brave 

 little animal, after a long and violent struggle. We took a quantity 

 of its hair of meat we had enough and camped in the evening 

 at our old place by the rapids. 



