THE RIVAL CAPTAINS 4^9 



by which he might be saved the humiliation of finding- 

 means for a rival to do that which he had failed to do 

 himself In the meantime, Schwanenberg was in much 

 suspense, fearing the boat would slip through his fingers. 

 Both parties consulted me ; I tried to give them good 

 advice, wishing heartily the matter could be settled one 

 way or the other. To attempt to cross the Kara Sea in 

 a cockleshell like the Ibis was a foolhardy enterprise, 

 and could only succeed by a fluke, but both captains were 

 anxious to risk their lives in the desperate attempt. 

 Ambition and enthusiasm seemed for the moment to have 

 deprived them of common sense. 



Boiling and I had a long round on the tundra. The 

 next day we saw a few pairs of European, and a great 

 many pairs of Asiatic, golden plover. I spent nearly 

 two hours over a pair of the latter bird, trying to watch 

 the female to the nest. She ran backwards and for- 

 wards over one piece of ground for half an hour, then 

 flew to another place, and went through the same 

 performance. The only conclusion I could come to was 

 that she had young, and thus sought to protect first one 

 and then another. The male remained for a long time 

 in one place. His object seemed to be to watch me, 

 and to give the alarm to the female should I move. 



Had I been a fortnight earlier I should no doubt have 

 obtained many of their eggs. I had had to pay dearly 

 for Captain Wiggins' blunders, but I could not desert 

 him in his misfortune. I had put upon him as much 

 pressure as I possibly could without quarrelling with him, 

 to induce him to finish the rigging of the Ibis, and to 

 let Boiling and myself proceed alone according to our 

 original plan. 



We found the ringed plover very common on the 

 bare places on the hills as far as we penetrated the tundra. 



