CHAPTER XXIII. 



FOSHEIM'S ACCOUNT. 



SATUKDAY morning, May 4, at half-past six, the mate and I left 

 the Captain's party. We had now been together for twenty-five 

 days, searching eagerly for the mysterious sound which now at 

 last lay large and open before us like a broad high-road, leading 

 onward to unknown lands as yet untrodden by a white man's 

 foot. There is always a strange fascination in travelling in virgin 

 land, and it was therefore with great pleasure that we set to 

 work to solve the following problem which the Captain set us in 

 a pleasant farewell palaver in our tent the evening beforehand. 



It was as follows. We were to go north to Greely Fjord, follow 

 this eastward, and find out whether a fjord or sound cut into the 

 land in a southerly direction. If this were the case, we should 

 then arrive at Bay Fjord, which we were to follow outwards, to 

 the islands in Heureka Sound, then map its eastern side to the 

 mouth, and then return home again, either by way of Xordeidet or 

 along the west side of Bjoruekaplandet, whichever we ourselves 

 thought best. If there were no sound between Greely Fjord and 

 Bay Fjord, we were in such case to return the way we had come, 

 and should then be at Maiodden on May 20. The Captain was 

 rather afraid that the ice near the islands and at the mouth of the 

 sound might break up early. 



Pleasant as it is for a time to be altogether one's own master, 

 and set to work at one's own task, it cannot be denied that we 

 threw rather a wistful glance after our travelling companions, as 

 we saw them and their dogs vanish from sight amid the pressure- 

 ice. But there was no time for idle reflections ; we got under 

 way as quickly as possible, and set the course north-east, to the 

 land south of Greely Fjord. 



VOL. n. 27;5 T 



