CHAPTER IX. 
FARTHEST SourH. 
WHEN once again on board the Southern Cross, 
Per Savio had been allowed to take up his abode 
in the small cupboard, if it may so be called, in 
the forecastle where he made himself remarkably 
comfortable. He was lying resting after an arduous 
day's work, while his thoughts were far away up 
North where reindeer were running over the big 
flats, and where he hoped the girl he had left 
behind him was waiting for him. In these reveries 
he was suddenly interrupted and brought at once 
from poesie to prose by a large fat Australian rat 
which fell on to his face; and being as upset as 
Per was, the creature saw the refuge it needed in 
Pers sleeping bag. It goes without saying that 
Per was not slow in emerging from his cupboard. 
While we continually took the bearings of Victoria 
Land for mapping purposes, we steamed southwards 
and sighted Possession Island at four in the morning 
of the 3rd February. As we drew near to the island 
everyone on board became greatly interested, especi- 
ally when I, through my telescope, discovered that 
the pole with its iron box on the top of it, which 
had been left there in 1895, was still standing in 
its solid foundation of rock. 
AS a Edu 
