SPRING JOURNEYS, 1901. 157 



last they began slowly to retire, though only a few steps at a 

 time. It was a pretty manoeuvre, and quite what one might call a 

 ' covered retreat.' They did not for an instant break the square, 

 nor for an instant expose their calves and young animals ; and 

 in such a square they are safe enough: no beast of prey 

 can break into it. Thus they retired a curious spectacle of 

 armed peace towards the other square, which had begun to 

 retire as soon as the dogs had left them. How many animals 

 the other herd numbered I am not certain, but probably also 

 about thirty. 



The men from each tent now fetched their animal to camp, 

 where it was skinned and portioned out, and where the dogs ate 

 as much as they were good for. Schei and I cut out a number 

 of marrow-bones, and the broth in our tent was strong that 

 evening. We all looked forward to an extra warm night with the 

 skins under us. 



Meanwhile, Baumann and Peder anticipated their warmth ; 

 they had a new burner to their ' Primus,' and whether it did not 

 quite suit the apparatus, or whatever it may have been I know 

 not, suffice it to say that while they were sitting listening to the 

 cheerful singing of the machine and looking forward to the 

 delicious steaming broth, the burner suddenly flew off, and in a 

 moment the tent was transformed into a small sea of fire. They 

 started up and out, with their wolf- skin clothing somewhat 

 scorched, and tore a rent in the canvas in so doing. The fire was 

 soon extinguished, without having done any harm worth mention- 

 ing, a new burner put on, and the cooking resumed. 



Fosheim's comfort fared ill that night. Late in the evening he 



discovered that he had lost a bag of bread, and in the innocent 



hope that it had happened quite recently, sallied forth to find 



his lost treasure. But his quest took longer than he expected, 



and led him, though without finding the bag, all the way back 



to the place where we had made our noonday halt. He had then 



gone a distance of eleven miles or so, and thought it was time to 



return. He went quite a walk that night, while the rest of us 



were slumbering peacefully more than twenty miles altogether 



and did not get back till shortly before we were ready to break 



