382 NEW LAND. 



As is often the case, May 18 was not nearly so pleasant as 

 May 17. A complete change of scene had taken place, and there 

 was high wind from the west with driving snow ; but we had 

 to go on skinning and cutting up the meat before it was frozen. 

 It was raw work skinning in such weather, and still more raw 

 cutting away the meat from the bones. What a glorious appetite 

 the dogs had ! one could hardly help feeling envious of the way 

 they set to work. One team was moored to the carcase of an 

 ox, and the other had an enormous heap of meat lying close 

 by them. All they had to do was to eat, and they did it 

 religiously. 



The whole of Whitsuntide we remained lying at the same 

 place, and with the same bad weather. It was not till Wed- 

 nesday, May 21, at six o'clock in the evening, that it was any 

 use to think of driving down the valley and out on to the sea-ice. 

 The snow was such good going after the violent wind that we 

 made quick progress, although our loads were heavy. But what 

 a change there was in the dogs ! They seemed like different 

 animals, and went at a gallop southwards. But we knew 

 that in their surfeited condition we must not drive them too long 

 at a time, and we therefore stopped at midnight. 



One of my dogs, ' Hex,' was making his second long journey 

 at this time. He was still quite young, and had always been 

 very timid, never defending himself when the others fought him, 

 which they did continually. It was the fashion in my team 

 to hound this unfortunate animal, although I could see that, 

 taken altogether, he was the strongest of them all. The one who 

 treated him worst was, of course, ' Svartflekken,' ever a brutal 

 tyrant whose greatest pleasure was bullying his colleagues. But 

 that night there was a revolution ; the real cause of the dis- 

 turbance I never found out ; suffice it to say that ' Eex ' would 

 endure no more, and the two began to fight as hard as ever they 

 could. ' Svartflekken ' at first was somewhat disconcerted, but 

 he soon rose to the situation, and did all the biting he was 

 capable of. But ' Eex ' was young, had sharp teeth, and the 

 suppressed anger of many a long day to vent. The other dogs 

 did not know what to think when they saw ' Svartflekken ' 



