A KACE WITH DEATH 



previous days. All night we had sleet, and during the day 

 constant showers. This prevented us from seeing the hares. 

 Furthermore, we came into quite a different type of country, 

 with deep, stony eloughs, poor in vegetation. After four hours 

 of strenuous marching we decided to leave the border-zone of 

 the inland-ice and go towards the sea — towards the land with a 

 more even terrain, more fertile ground, and richer in game. 



" As usual we started by noonday. In the afternoon Bosun 

 shot a young hare which we ate raw ; otherwise we saw no 

 game that day. 



" On the top of every mountain slope we passed we had to 

 wait for Wulff, often for a long time, although it was to the 

 interest of us all to get quickly ahead to better hunting- 

 grounds. Thus it was that in twelve hours we had covered a 

 distance of hardly 8 kilometres. Wulff had several times 

 during the day been quite unbalanced, very irritable, and occa- 

 sionally not quite clear. During the day he had often declared 

 that it was better to die — ■' this walk was worse than death.' 



" Again we had snow-showers during the night. Several 

 times I awoke and noticed that Wulff 's sleep was very restless, 

 and that he was constantly chewing tobacco — a practice which, 

 in spite of our warnings, he indulged in excessively of late. 



" After twelve hours of rest we went on again. None of 

 us spoke much, but I noticed at once that peace had settled on 

 Wulff's thoughts. I was therefore highly surprised when, 

 after three hours, he suddenly stopped and said : 



"'Now I can go no further because of my heart. Will 

 you find a place for me where I can lie down? — preferably near 

 to a lake where I can get something to drink, and where you 

 will be able to find me if you get game in the immediate future.' 



" I had the definite impression that this was the result of a 

 man's ripe and well-considered reflection. It would be of no 

 avail to attempt to dissuade him. We had just sat down by a 

 lake near a large dough which would be easy to recognize, but 

 to gain time and yet another chance to save his life, I pointed 

 to a lake some 2 kilometres further ahead. He agreed to 

 my choice and we went together towards it ; once more to 



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