116 NEW LAND. 



terrified wolf would then make off as fast as his legs could carry 

 him, and when his expectant capturers came hurrying up on deck, 

 they, at best, saw him flying for his life on the ice. But, anyhow, 

 the ' Greylegs ' were so shy that we could hardly set foot on deck 

 before they were off. 



I need hardly say the wolf-fishing contrivance was short-lived. 



But on board the ' Fram ' lived others besides two-legged beings. 

 The whole pack of puppies had their playground on deck, partly 

 because they were too young to be out on the ice on their own 

 account, and partly because we were afraid of the wolves for 

 them. Therefore one fine day, when these small creatures were 

 playing about, poking their noses into everything as usual, they 

 discovered that they had only to touch the line for the bell to ring. 

 After that it was a never-ending source of amusement to them to 

 ring it, and the fishermen were kept on the go night and day. 



At nights, when the bell began to peal as if the country was 

 in revolt, and a half-awakened wolf-fisher rushed up on deck, he 

 would see a wretched little puppy sitting quietly nodding its head 

 to and fro as it made snatches at the bell-rope. It was not an 

 inspiring sight for a hot-blooded sportsman ! But no raising the 

 line seemed to be any good ; somehow or other they always managed 

 to get at it again. 



When Olsen went to look at the trap on October 6, he found 

 that the bits of blubber which had been strewn about on the ice 

 outside it had disappeared. When he came to investigate the trap 

 itself, he found the door had been thrust in. Aha ! Here was a 

 wolf, he thought the trap wasn't such a bad idea after all ! He 

 returned on board at once, and told Fosheim what had happened. 



They started off forthwith, taking a sledge with them on which 

 to bring the trap aboard, but they must have looked decidedly 

 crestfallen when they discovered that the wolf had tricked them, 

 and not they the wolf. It had first eaten the bait on the ice, then 

 gone into the trap and devoured all that was there, and finally had 

 scored off the inventors by eating up the rope which held the 

 spring. After thus having eaten all that the house provided, and 

 more than that, it had quietly lifted up the trap and gone out, 

 and had even had the politeness to shut the door after it. 



