TROLDFJORD. 171 



I by no means enjoyed my ride ; I lay trying to back the 

 dogs so as to unfasten the connecting lanyard, and took one bump 

 after another, the one more accentuated than the last. As for 

 my legs, they sometimes felt as if they would be rubbed right off. 

 Several times I was on the point of letting the whole thing go, 

 but thought better of it, as I was afraid the bear might make an 

 end of the dogs, whose movements would be hampered by the 

 heavy load behind them. Then, too, my team was so far ahead 

 that it would be quite a time before the others could come to 

 their rescue, so I thought my legs must take their chance ; they 

 would probably hold this time too. Ultimately I managed to 

 unfasten the lanyard, and was not a little relieved when I saw 

 the dogs tear off without me. 



Schei was number two in the caravan ; he dashed past me, 

 and when he was within range let go his dogs, so that the bear 

 had plenty to do in waltzing round after them until he saw his 

 opportunity, and sent it a fatal bullet. We drove all the teams 

 to the field of battle, pitched the tents beside the fallen animal, 

 and fed the dogs. 



It was a poor little bear, and the four teams ate it up, skin 

 and all. Nothing remained of it when their hunger had been 

 somewhat appeased but a good number of tufts of hair, and 

 here and there some well-gnawed bones and bits of skin with the 

 hair on them. During the night they even ate up the remains 

 of the skin, and when we came out in the morning, all that was 

 left to remind us of the bear were the bones and a few tufts of 

 yellowish hair fluttering in the wind. 



The bear-hunt had delayed us a good deal, so that the distance 

 we drove that day was only seventeen miles, but this was per- 

 missible since we had procured a gratis meal for the dogs. 



Latish the following afternoon the sky began to cloud over, 

 and I was afraid we were in for some bad weather. We had had 

 splendid weather ever since we left the 'Fram/ and could not 

 expect it to go on for ever. About four miles from the head of 

 the fjord we stopped, and pitched the tents for the night. 



Here, then, was an end to this fjord also, and our hope that 

 it would lead us to the promised land in the north sank many 



