ACROSS MELTING ICE TO SUMMER VALLEY 



now it took seven, before at last we beached with dripping 

 clothes after a thorough bath of thirteen hours' duration. 



I arrived an hour after the others, as the sledge for the 

 second time during the day had fallen to pieces and had to be 

 lashed afresh. My comrades had already pulled off their wet 

 clothes and were taking sun-baths stark naked on a small grassy 

 slope. And surely this was necessary, for we were red and 

 wrinkled right up to our waists just as if for a long time we had 

 been in soak. The temperature here on land was perfectly 

 tropical, showing 5° (Cent.). 



I was hoarse with shouting to the dogs, which for the last 

 stretch had been almost impossible to drive through the water ; 

 and Dr. Wulff came smilingly towards me and told me that 

 during the hour whilst they had been waiting for me, he had 

 experienced the truth of the word of the holy Augustine : 

 "That the joy of the blessed consists not merely in knowing 

 oneself to be on the right side, but also, and that not least, in 

 the constant listening to the despairing cries of the damned." 

 Thus they on land had felt it, after having fought their way to 

 the right side, when they heard me out in the slush alternately 

 yammering and raging at the dogs ! 



We were all hungry as wolves and therefore voted for an 

 immediate hunt. So we went across the land, taking all the 

 dogs with us. Unfortunately, we were stopped about half an 

 hour later by a flood-like river about 400 metres broad, and after 

 having made several desperate attempts to ford it we had to 

 postpone the hunt until the following day, as the river could 

 only be passed some distance seaward out on the ice. In spite 

 of our hunger and murderous instincts, not one of us was to-day 

 in possession of sufficient courage to cross this ice just as we 

 had reached land. 



To stave off the hunger, we arranged a hare-hunt, which 

 gave an excellent result. In the course of a couple of hours no 

 less than eight of the little white-clad animals had to lay down 

 their lives, and a temporary camp was made so that we might 

 have a little rest before the musk-ox hunting started in earnest. 



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