GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



tions ; then, after a few hours of sleep, we had again been keenly 

 active for rather more than fourteen hours ; nevertheless, it was 

 desirable that the hunt of the three musk-oxen should be con- 

 tinued at once, before they got too far away. 



We were all sleepy and tired. Whilst in the cleft the last 

 meal was cooking, one after another drooped down and slept. 

 The many days' bath in the cold ice- water had not passed over 

 us without leaving its mark ; some of us had in a most uncom- 

 fortable way lost the powers of the knee-muscles, and to-day 

 especially Harrigan and I had sunk to our knees time after time 

 during the musk-ox hunt when we ran down the slopes, for we 

 had no strength in the muscles of our legs. 



Under these conditions there was only one man on whom 

 I could count, and that was the best and indefatigable hunter, 

 Ajako. Time after time I have had the opportunity to empha- 

 size his invaluable qualities for a voyage like this ; his splendid 

 physique, his endurance, his never-failing hunter's instinct. He 

 it was who shot the first musk-ox at a time when the position 

 began to be critical for the dogs ; he it was who caught the first 

 seals by the whirlpool and saved the rest of our team ; and, 

 finally, it was he who in the midst of the Polar pack-ice off Cape 

 Neumeyer got the seal which secured the voyage to de Long 

 Fjord. Therefore it was also this man whom I suggested should 

 continue the hunt at a time when the rest of us had to give in 

 because of overstrain ; and the hunting excursion he was to 

 undertake would take at least another fourteen hours. Ajako 

 accepted my proposal with a smile : oh yes, it had been his own 

 opinion the whole time that it would be better to continue the 

 hunt at once ; thus the matter was settled. As soon as the con- 

 tents of the pan were cooked, we turned out on a big flat stone 

 delicious pieces of tongues and hearts, floating in fat, and had 

 our meal together. Then Ajako seized his gun, loosened the 

 dog which usually followed him on all his hunting excursions, 

 and disappeared behind the nearest ridge, light and supple, as if 

 he had just got up from a long and refreshing rest. Over his 

 walk and all his being rested a beauty which only youth and 

 strength gives. 

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