SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE S7^ 



makes us deceive ourselves, and ever sends us forth on 

 paths we have not ourselves laid out — paths on which we 

 have no desire to walk ? Was it a mere feeling of duty 

 that impelled me ? Oh no ! I was simply a child yearn- 

 ing for a great adventure out in the unknown, who had 

 dreamed of it so long that at last I believed it really 

 awaited me. And it has, indeed, fallen to my lot, the 

 great adventure of the ice, deep and pure as infinity ; the 

 silent, starlit polar night ; nature itself in its profundity ; 

 the mystery of life ; the ceaseless circling of the universe ; 

 the feast of death — without suffering, without regret — 

 eternal in itself. Here in the great night thou standest 

 in all thy naked pettiness, face to face with nature ; and 

 thou sittest devoutly at the feet of eternity, intently lis- 

 tening ; and thou knowest God the all-ruling, the centre 

 of the universe. All the riddles of life seem to grow 

 clear to thee, and thou laughest at thyself that thou 

 couldst be consumed by brooding, it is all so little, so 

 unutterably little. ... ' Whoso sees Jehovah dies.' 



" Sunday, November 4th. At noon I had gone out 

 on a snow-shoe expedition, and had taken some of the 

 dogs with me. Presently I noticed that those that had 

 been left behind at the ship began to bark. Those with 

 me pricked up their ears, and several of them started off 

 back, with ' Ulenka ' at their head. Most of them soon 

 stopped, listening and looking behind them to see if I 

 were followins:, I wondered for a little while whether 

 it could be a bear, and then continued on my way ; but 



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