GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



occupy my thoughts much, even though I could not regret the 

 decision I had made. 



Just before we broke camp, Hendrik came up to me and 

 asked to be excused from going inland ; he could not explain 

 why, but he would rather not, and therefore asked my permis- 

 sion to join our party and cross the ice. I explained that there 

 were practical reasons for the distribution, as it was of impor- 

 tance that as many as possible should go land-hunting ; further- 

 more, the walk on land would be much more comfortable than 

 driving across the ice, as the latter would go chiefly through 

 water-basins. He found an excuse by saying that his boots 

 were bad, and that it would hurt his feet to walk across the stony 

 stretches. I gave him at once a pair of my own kamiks to pull 

 on top of his own, so that the soles of his feet should not suffer. 



At that moment Harrigan, who had heard our conversation, 

 came up to say that if Hendrik would rather not go across the 

 land, he could take Harrigan's sledge, so that the latter could 

 go hare-hunting with Bosun. But Hendrik had now come to 

 a new decision and declared that as I had decided he ought to 

 go with the land party, he had better do so — and thus matters 

 were settled. The only thing in this little incident which for a 

 moment surprised me was that Hendrik, who always in the best 

 of spirits accepted the task allotted to him, on this occasion 

 hesitated to carry out his orders ; but as during the past few 

 days, with his Remington rifle of the Royal Greenland Com- 

 mercial type, he had shown himself to be one of our safest shots 

 when it was a matter of bagging the shy, fleeing hares, I was 

 nevertheless satisfied that my decision should stand, little sus- 

 pecting the uncanny catastrophe which was destined to be a 

 consequence of this arrangement. 



THE MEETING WITH OUR COMRADES BY HARTZ SOUND— 

 HENDRIK FAILS TO APPEAR 



July 20th-2ith. — At last on the 28th of July we set off on 

 a beautiful evening to attempt an ascent in the place we had 

 noted from the top of Dragon Mountain. Our stay by Dragon 

 190 



