CHAPTER XXXII. 



BLAAMANDEN AND BAY FJORD. 



BY eleven next morning we were again driving southward; the 

 weather was brilliantly clear, and almost too warm. The snow 

 was heavy, but we got on well. It is remarkable how four days 

 of good feeding can increase a dog's strength. And how they 

 ate ! Although they had had no food at our last camping-place, 

 they still felt the effects of their greediness. Later in the after- 

 noon they began to be so tired and short-winded that we thought 

 they had better digest in peace, so we settled down, as early 

 as three o'clock, under the lee of a large iceberg on the north 

 side of Skrsellingodden. ' Svartflekken ' had had a worse thrashing 

 than we thought ; he limped on three legs the whole time, and 

 was in such a bad way that he had to be tied up by himself. 



Just as we were going to start, about three o'clock in the 

 morning, the wind suddenly sprang up, and there was soon a 

 regular gale from the west. The snow was loose and heavy, 

 and we could hardly see a hand's -breadth in front of us through 

 the drift. It was not until we reached Skreellingodden, and were 

 able to drive alongside the land, that we could do much ; but there 

 again we came on to hard shining ice, the wind blew worse and 

 worse, all the time on our beam, and we were obliged to take to 

 the ice-foot so as in any way to keep our course. 



As we were driving along we came across a hard-packed drift 

 sloping from the ice-foot down on to the bright ice. We tried to 

 hang on to the drift as well as we could, but a violent gust of 

 wind came just at this moment and swept us sideways across the 

 ice. It was simply impossible to stop ourselves. The dogs kicked 

 and clawed on to the ice with their feet, but we were carried 



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