142 NEW LAND. 



ox ? They seemed as if they were crowing over us, for they were 

 always to be heard at some point or other on the hillsides. 



We really cherished very faint hopes of finding our kill un- 

 touched. If all the wolves which had been about near the carcase 

 since yesterday had eaten their fill of it there would not be much 

 left for us, we thought. But we were not a little surprised as we 

 ueared the animal to see that all the wolf-tracks stopped short at 

 sixty or seventy yards. Not a single 'Greylegs,' as we called them, 

 had ventured right up to the place of slaughter. They are 

 cautious generals, these animals, and no mistake ! 



We had a deal of trouble in knocking the fast-frozen carcase away 

 from the ground, and cutting off the head ; but we managed it in 

 time. We backed it on to the sledge and drove it down to camp, 

 where we had great work to cut it into fairly small joints. When 

 we were nearing home we became aware that three wolves had 

 followed our track, almost to the camp, but had then made off 

 inland, where we heard them at their music the whole livelong 

 night. In the course of the afternoon we cached our meat in 

 a large snowdrift, in three different places out on the point and 

 hence its name of ' Depot Point.' * 



The depot consisted firstly of all the meat which was left over 

 from the two animals after we and the dogs had satisfied our 

 hunger. This was not a small quantity, for the animals were 

 large and fairly well covered. We cached some of the other kinds 

 of food for which we had most use, among them being about 40 

 pounds of bread, and finally 450 rations of patent dog-food, and 

 GO rations of stock-fish, as well as a supply of paraffin. The skins 

 we took back with us ; they were 'particularly fine and shaggy, as 

 the animals had not yet begun to shed their hair. 



Fosheim and I went a little way up on land, each in his own 

 direction, and between us shot a" leash of hares. 



Oh, how cold it was ! In the middle of the day it was a little 

 milder, but in the morning and evening the thermometer kept 

 resolutely at -58 Fahr. ( 50 Cent.), or thereabouts. Having 

 no special reasons for saving the paraffin, as we were only out on 

 a short trip, we kept the ' Primus ' burning at its full height the 



* So given. by the author. 



