122 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



played out. Always, as horsemen say, I had a leg to 

 spare. But now that there was no instant occasion for 

 haste, now that we had really found that which we had 

 been seeking, it was just reversed. Hyland was grown 

 quite fresh and filled with new energy in this discovery, 

 while I had found that I was really tired, and that the 

 constant carrying of this heavy weight had in some way 

 told on my spine. 



So we stopped half-way up a hill, and made some tea, 

 using for that our last drop of methylated spirits. 



At one o'clock in the morning we came among the 

 deer. To my surprise we found that a large proportion 

 of them were white. Meantime a very heavy fog had 

 settled down upon the hills. We could not see with any 

 certainty more than twenty yards in front of us. I had 

 been sitting down to rest, and on rising again to move 

 away my companion remarked that I was going in the. 

 wrong direction, and that the choom was just the other 

 way. And indeed I had done a foolish thing. For, 

 since sighting the choom at first, I had put away the 

 compass for good and all, knowing that to walk straight 

 up to it from that point w r as only a question of keeping a 

 clear head. But no sooner had we entered the hills than 

 we lost all sight of the choom and the reindeer, and 

 had not since seen the choom at all. 



And as I had been lying on the ground with closed 

 eyes, I supposed that I had become confused, and there- 

 fore followed Hyland's lead. But it did not answer. 



