3IO FARTHEST NORTH 



through the ether-like waves before a storm-wind. They 

 sway backward and forward, now strong, now fainter 

 again. The serpents reached and passed the zenith. 

 Though I was thinly dressed and shivering with cold, I 

 could not tear myself away till the spectacle was over, 

 and only a faintly glowing fiery serpent near the western 

 horizon showed where it had begun. When I came on 

 deck later the masses of light had passed northward and 

 spread themselves in incomplete arches over the northern 

 sky. If one wants to read mystic meanings into the phe- 

 nomena of nature, here, surely, is the opportunity. 



" The observation this afternoon showed us to be in 

 78° 2)^' 42 " north latitude. This is anything but rapid 

 progress. 



" Wednesday, November 29th. Another dog has 

 been bitten to death to-day — ' Fox,' a handsome, power- 

 ful animal. He was found lying dead and stiff on the ice 

 at our stern this evening when they went to bring the 

 dogs in, 'Suggen' performing her usual duty of watching 

 the body. They are wretches, these dogs. But now I 

 have given orders that some one must always watch them 

 when they are out on the ice. 



" Thursday, November 30th. The lead showed a 

 depth of exactly 83 fathoms (170 m.) to-day, and it seemed 

 by the line as if we were drifting northwest. We are 

 almost certainly farther north now ; hopes are rising, 

 and life is looking brighter again. My spirits are like 

 a pendulum, if one could imagine such an instrument 



