422 FARTHEST NORTH 



spot. Perhaps I was rather too hasty ; we can scarcely 

 have any infection among us now. But what could it 

 have been? Was it an epileptic attack? The other day 

 one of the other puppies alarmed me by running round 

 and round in the chart-house as if it were mad, hiding 

 itself after a time between a chest and the wall. Some 

 of the others, too, had seen it do the same thing; but 

 after a while it got all right again, and for the last few 

 days there has been nothing amiss with it. 



"Good Friday, March 23d. Noonday observation 

 gives 80' north latitude. In four days and nights we 

 have drifted as far north as we drifted southward in 

 three weeks. It is a comfort, at all events, to know that! 

 " It is remarkable how quickly the nights have grown 

 lioht. Even stars of the first magnitude can now barely 

 manage to twinkle in the pale sky at midnight. 



"Saturday, March 24t*h. Easter Eve. To-day a 

 notable event has occurred. We have allowed the light 

 of spring to enter the saloon. During the whole of the 

 winter the skylight w^as covered with snow to keep the 

 cold out, and the dogs' kennels, moreover, had been 

 placed round it. Now we have thrown out all the snow 

 upon the ice, and the panes of glass in the skylight have 

 been duly cleared and cleaned. 



" Monday, March 26th. We are lying motionless — no 

 drift. How long will this last ? Last equinox how proud 

 and triumphant I was ! The whole world looked bright ; 

 but now I am proud no longer. 



