116 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
moved a grey goose [a bean] off her one egg, and then | 
grew contemplative. It was a lovely night, and I began 
conjecturing—‘ Now, apart from the position of the 
sun, what is there to show you it is not day? If at this 
moment you were suddenly dropped down here, and 
did not think of looking at the sun, would it strike you, 
in any way, as a curious day? What, in short, is the 
distinctive characteristic of this Arctic night?’ 
I think this was the beginning of it; but, at any rate, I 
got into a brown study and went wandering on until 
I was lost. I really was. And I stood and laughed at 
myself for being such an idiot. But all the hills were 
just alike, and our little crevice was so low down among 
them, that it was only by making a cast and hitting off 
our track that I found it. 
But at two o'clock in the morning I curled up. The 
last thing I saw was a pair of old glaucous gulls come 
flying in from the east. 
So I went to sleep happy, knowing that the sea was 
not far away. 
