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NEW LAND 



we had as many as ten or eleven kinds of food to choose 

 from. 



At first on our journey north, we had been very extravagant 

 with petroleum, and had got through a whole keg in eighteen 

 days ; later on, when the weather grew milder, we made a keg last 

 nearly forty-five days, and we still had enough left for a week. 



Bay took advantage of the short space of time while we were 

 preparing lunch to go to his tent and ' dress.' When he came 



OLSEN INSPECTS THE NURSERY. 



back, having accomplished this feat, and took the place of honour 

 at the table, he really looked like a human being. With his 

 appetite, however, there was certainly something wrong. We 

 were used to seeing him eat like a hero, and respectfully called him 

 ' master,' but to-day we consumed at least two or three times as 

 much as he. He assured us that he had eaten more than he 

 usually did, and that it was our appetites which had become 

 abnormal ; but I had a suspicion that this again was owing to his 

 recluse's life. 



With regard to his remarkable want of hospitality, it proved 



