BACK TO BJORNEBORG. 431 



later that this had to do with the local conditions. When we went 

 to look at the Commandant's hut after lunch, we saw that he 

 represented sea rather than land forces. The fact of the matter 

 was that the snow on the roof had begun to melt, and had taken a 

 short cut down. Whereas his former commando had consisted 

 of only himself and a dog, ' Tiger,' ' Stubsa,' and ' Basilisken ' in 

 turns, he had now mobolized a whole fleet of tin boxes, which 

 plainly witnessed to a stubborn struggle with the wet element, 

 and the whole of Bjorneborg looked very much like the scene of 

 a naval engagement. Though Bay by nature is amphibious, he is 

 no naval hero, and I had a suspicion that now for once his sub- 

 marine tendencies had been fully satisfied. 



From Bay we heard that Schei and Peder had come to Bjorne- 

 borg from the north a day and a half ago, and had gone home to 

 the ' Fram.' They had shot a great deal of game, both bears, 

 reindeer, and polar oxen ; and were full of their hunting adventures 

 and other experiences. In a large fjord up there the bears had 

 been particularly pressing, as were also a couple of wolves which 

 they had come across. One of them had even seemed as if it 

 meant to measure strength with Peder. 



Wolves are decidedly cunning animals, and not without strategic 

 instincts. My experience is that, as a rule, they attack from two 

 different sides at once, in order to scatter and weaken their 

 opponents. In this case two wolves had approached the men, one 

 from the front and the other from the rear. Schei's team saw the 

 foremost wolf, and set off as fast as they could go, followed by Peder's 

 team, so that Peder himself, who was on ' ski ' beside his sledge, 

 was left far behind. His gun was with the baggage, and he thus 

 found himself in an almost defenceless position. The hindermost 

 wolf at once took advantage of this to come close beside him, and 

 seemed to have the most sinister intentions. Peder made himself 

 very fierce, waved his ' ski '-staff, and the wolf was wise enough to 

 keep out of reach of it, although probably its mouth was watering 

 to feast on our able-bodied Peder. In this way they progressed, side 

 by side, glaring at each other, until Peder caught up the other sledge, 

 when the wolf deemed it right to disappear. The two teams having 

 their loads, had not, of course, been able to attack the foremost 



