u6 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



moved a grey goose [a bean] off her one egg, and then I 

 grew contemplative. It was a lovely night, and I began 

 conjecturing — ' Now, apart from the position of the 

 sun, what is there to show you it is not day? If at this 

 moment you were suddenly dropped down here, and 

 did not think of looking at the sun, would it strike you, 

 in any way, as a curious day ? What, in short, is the 

 distinctive characteristic of this Arctic night ? ' 



I think this was the beginning of it ; but, at any rate, I 

 got into a brown study and went wandering on until 

 I was lost. I really was. And I stood and laughed at 

 myself for being such an idiot. But all the hills were 

 just alike, and our little crevice was so low down among 

 them, that it was only by making a cast and hitting off 

 our track that I found it. 



But at two o'clock in the morning I curled up. The 

 last thing I saw was a pair of old glaucous gulls come 

 flying in from the east. 



So I went to sleep happy, knowing that the sea was 

 not far away. 



