BV SLEDGE AND KAYAK 241 



part of ' Pan ' for supper ; but ' Klapperslangen ' must go, 

 too. We shall then have six dogs, which, I suppose, we 

 can keep four days, and still get on a good way with 

 them. 



" Whitsuntide ! — there is something so lovely and 

 summer-like in the word. It is hard to think how 

 beautiful everything is now at home, and then to lie 

 here still, in mist and wind and ice. How homesick one 

 grows; but what good does it do.^* Little Liv will go 

 to dinner with her grandmother to-day — perhaps they 

 are dressing her in a new frock at this very moment ! 

 Well, well, the time will come when I can go with her; 

 but when? I must set to work on the lashings, and it 

 will be all right." 



We worked with ardor during the following days to 

 get our kayaks ready, and even grudged the time for 

 eating. Twelve hours sometimes went by between each 

 meal, and our working day often lasted for twenty-four 

 hours. But all the same it took time to make these 

 kayaks fully seaworthy again. The worst of it was that 

 we had to be so careful with our materials, as the op- 

 portunities of acquiring more were not immoderately 

 abundant. When, for instance, a rib had to be relashed 

 we could not rip up the old lashing, but had to unwind 

 it carefully in order not to destroy the line; and when 

 there are many scores of such places to be relashed, this 

 takes time. Then, too, several of the bamboo ribs which 

 run along the side of the framework (particularly in 



