494 NEW LAND. 



drove straight to the 'Fram,' which they reached at dawn on 

 Sunday, May 20. A couple of days later the boat was fetched by 

 five men and twenty-six dogs, who all together made very short 

 work of it. 



When it was known on board that I proposed to send a sledge- 

 expedition west to Bjorneborg, and then north to Land's End 

 after Fosheim's party, Schei and Baumann at once offered their 

 services. They equipped in the course of the day, and were 

 ready to start the morning after my return, that is to say, the 

 Tuesday after Whitsuntide. They took my dogs as a loose team, 

 as Fosheim required a team for the transport of the depot, and 

 thus Baumann's dogs, which Fosheim had driven since we parted at 

 Norskebugten, came back into the hands of their rightful owner. 



Stolz and Simmons joined company with Schei and Baumann, 

 as they had to fetch some of the boat's tackle, which was still in 

 Baadsfjord. Simmons hoped to make use of the opportunity to 

 collect some plants. On June 5, accordingly, about seven in the 

 evening, they all left the ship. 



Our comrades on board had experienced some exciting bear- 

 hunts during the course of. the spring, and there were tales in 

 particular of a chase in which Olsen had played the chief part. 

 Olsen was the keenest of sportsmen, but as he was so short- 

 sighted that he could not see many gun's-lengths in front of him, 

 the results were not always equal to his expectations. For a long 

 time now it had been his greatest wish perhaps interwoven with 

 his evening prayers to have a chance of shooting a bear. He 

 had amused himself the whole of the spring, since the days had 

 become light, by breaking in the puppies. I will not say that he 

 was quite the right man in the right place as far as this duty 

 was concerned, but at any rate he thought it was all very satis- 

 factory, and there was such good stuff in the dogs that it was 

 wonderful how fast they got over the ground. 



One day when he was driving down the sound, to the best of 

 his ability, to see if he could find a bear out by the rocks, the 

 puppies winded game, and set off at full speed. The game proved 

 to be a bear with two cubs, but they soon disappeared from view 

 behind some big hummocks. Olsen, with his keen sight, at once 



