186 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



the seal understands and pops off the ice when we are eight 

 hundred yards off ; so we retire to the cabin and the stove ; 

 for it is beastly cold and damp, and write up journals and 

 almost wonder if we are not rather fools to come so far for 

 such disagreeable circumstances. Still in the back of our 

 minds we remember what a difference a little sunlight makes 

 in a polar scene. 



