GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



hope of finding big game, is in appearance not unlike the wolf- 

 dog which he leads at the end of a trace. Like his dog he is 

 light, with tense muscles, hardy and used to starvation. By his 

 side goes Koch — broad of shoulder, strong of build, tough, and 

 showing the consciousness of his strength in the swing where- 

 with he walks, like a young Great Dane. 



Good hunt, oh wolves ! Never have warmer wishes accom- 

 panied two wanderers ; for to-day is the day ! The great 

 seriousness is over us and our fate. 



Whilst I stand here weighing our chances, with the raw 

 blast in my face, my thoughts go out to the other party which 

 has endured the same weather as we. May they have had more 

 success on their hunting before the storm overtook them and 

 put its seal on the land. 



Opposite to me a couple of ptarmigan are sitting cooing 

 caressingly to each other. Their coat is quite brown, and they 

 sing about the summer that should have been. Their cheerful 

 presence is stimulating and makes one forget the uncanniness 

 of the storm-rushing clouds. 



Occasionally they look enquiringly at the tent and the man 

 at its entrance ; but there is no cause for their anxiety — they 

 may safely coo for me all through my lonely day. I cannot 

 afford to spend a ball on so little meat, and our shot-gun and 

 its ammunition was deposited for the return journey by the 

 mouth of Nordenskjold Fjord. 



My day will to-day be stamped by excitement, but it is 

 excitement of the kind which one should not feel too frequently 

 during an expedition. 



For the first time during a long period there is a positive 

 temperature, 1-2 degrees of warmth (Cent.). There is a dead 

 calm and hardly a cloud in the sky. Whilst I wait in the mild 

 weather I am tempted to kill time by writing. 



It is now six o'clock in the afternoon, thus it is fifteen hours 

 since my comrades left. They were to return immediately if 

 they caught a seal by the whirlpool on their outward journey, 

 and their absence is therefore not a favourable sign. 

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