290 FARTHEST NORTH 



noeuvres as before. I looked round for my gun, but 

 could not reach it where it was lying on the kayak. 

 'Take the gun, Johansen, quick, and blaze away; but 

 quick ! look sharp, quick !' In a moment he had thrown 

 the gun to his cheek, and just as the seal was on the 

 point of disappearing under the edge I heard the report. 

 The animal made a little turn, and then lay floating, 

 the blood flowing from its head. I dropped the sledge, 

 seized the harpoon, and, quick as lightning, threw it deep 

 into the fat back of the seal, which lay quivering on the 

 surface of the water. Then it began to move ; there was 

 still life in it ; and, anxious lest the harpoon with its 

 thin line should not hold if the hu£ie animal beoan to 

 quicken in earnest, I jDulled my knife out of its sheath 

 and stuck it into the seal's throat, whence a stream of 

 blood came flowing out. The water was red with it for 

 a long distance, and it made one quite sorry to see the 

 wherewithal for a good meal being wasted like this. But 

 there was nothing to be done ; not on any account would 

 I lose that animal, and for the sake of safety gave it 

 another harpoon. Meanwhile the sledge, which had been 

 half dragged up on to the ice, slid down again, and the 

 kayaks, with Johansen and the dogs, came adrift. He 

 tried to pull the sledge up on to the kayak, but without 

 success, and so it remained with one end in the water 

 and one on the canoe. It heeled the whole fleet over, 

 and Johansen's kayak canted till one side was in the 

 water ; it leaked, moreover, like a sieve, and the water 



