322 FARTHEST NORTH 



to the meteorological journal there was still aurora bore- 

 alis in the southern sky at midnight. 



"Tuesday, December 12th. Had a long walk south- 

 east this morning. The ice is in much the same con- 

 dition there as it is to the west, packed or pressed up 

 into mounds, with flat floes between. This evening the 

 dogs suddenly began to make a great commotion on 

 deck. We were all deep in cards, some playing whist, 

 others ' marriage.' I had no shoes on, so said that 

 some one else must go up and see what was the mat- 

 ter. Mogstad went. The noise grew worse and worse. 

 Presently Mogstad came down and said that all the dogs 

 that could get at the rail were up on it, barking out 

 into the dark towards the north. He was sure there 

 must be an animal of some sort there, but perhaps it 

 was only a fox, for he thought he had heard the bark 

 of a fox far in the north ; but he was not sure. Well, 

 — it must be a devil of a fox to excite the dogs like 

 that. As the disturbance continued, I at last went up 

 myself, followed by Johansen. From different positions 

 we looked long and hard into the darkness in the 

 direction in which the dogs were barking, but we 

 could see nothing moving. That something must be 

 there was quite certain ; and I had no doubt that it 

 was a bear, for the dogs were almost beside themselves. 

 ' Pan ' looked up into my face with an odd expression, 

 as if he had something important to tell me, and then 

 jumped up on the rail and barked away to the north. 



