CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR A BOLD FOX. 125 



came to a cliff, but of cliffs there are many in King Oscar Land, 

 and what this particular one which confronted us might be, we 

 knew not. We soon saw that our wisest course was to camp. We 

 moored the boat abeam the wind, tied up the dogs, and pitched 

 the tent under the lee of the boat. Notwithstanding that it 

 provided such good shelter, the wind beat so on the tent that 

 I sat the whole evening expecting the canvas to be ripped up. 

 A good many of the guy -ropes did go during the night ; but 

 the tent held. 



By morning the storm had gone down, and we saw that we 

 had come to anchor a little to the east of Indre Eidet! At 

 eight o'clock we started again, and a little past noon reached 

 the outer headland on the west side of Gaasefjord. There wo 

 beached the boat, turning it over and making it fast with ropes, 

 and then encamped. In the evening we walked on a, little way 

 farther to get a view of the ice westward. 



We found progress near the shore quite as difficult this year 

 as last, and a little way from the coast the pack was in full drift. 

 It was a relief unspeakable that we had no driving to do west on 

 the ice in these parts this year. 



Up on the ice-foot we discovered the track of a bear, but saw 

 no animals of any sort or kind. We had hoped to find animals 

 to shoot out here, but as their number appeared to be so very 

 limited, and as also the following day was misty, w r e did not 

 think it worth while to spend time on anything so unpromising. 

 Moreover, we could see from the air that this calm would not be 

 of long duration, and if the north wind set in again, the drive 

 back inward might be bitter work. 



We therefore started homewards, and with our almost empty 

 sledges made rapid progress until we reached Borgen, but there 

 we came in for the north wind with a vengeance. By three 

 o'clock we were back at the ' Fram ' again ; but the breeze had 

 steadily increased, and a stiff head wind, combined with a tem- 

 perature of 47 Fahr. (44 Cent.), is calculated to make one's 

 nose smart the last few miles. 



The trip had not been a long one, but we had had an 

 opportunity of trying our new sleeping-bags, which quite came 



