you have seen the strange shape of
many of the eggs of sea-birds. They are not like those of other fowls."

"No, they're thick at one end and very thin at the other, going off
quite straight instead of being rounded."

"That is why they stay on the rocks," said the Norseman: "when the wind
strikes them the light, thin end flies round, and they begin to spin so
fast that you can hardly see them turn."

"That's curious," said Steve, who looked hard at Johannes, as if ready
to think that the man was telling him a travellers' tale. But the
Norseman was the last man who could be expected to indulge in fiction,
and the boy hastened to ask about their prospects.

"We all feel satisfied that this place abounds with game," said
Johannes. "Jakobsen here saw a couple of bears, the seals are
plentiful, and we passed yesterday enough of the walrus to feel sure
that there must be plenty more."

"Here, Steve!" cried the captain just then; "breakfast! I am going up
the fiord in one of the boats directly after. Do you care to go?"

"Care to go!" cried Steve. "Oh, I say, Captain Marsham, don't leave me
behind in any of your trips."

The captain did not seem to hear him, but went to where some of the crew
were busy now, unfurling and shaking out the jib preparatory to hoisting
it to dry, while other men were busy with the stay-sail.

The lads brightened up at the order given, and the result was that an
hour later the largest boat, well manned, and prepared for any
emergencies in the way of meeting game, from walrus to wild duck, pushed
off from the ship's side, leaving her floating as snugly and as
motionless as if in a dock.

The morning was glorious, and as they rowed north the various turnings
of the fiord soon shut out all view of the _Hvalross_. After a while
the huge towering cliffs, which had risen up nearly sheer from the
water's edge, began to retire, becoming less precipitous, and leaving a
shore which, from being a mere ribbon, rapidly increased till there was
a wide stretch of level land on either side, showing patches of green
here and there where the snow had melted away; and soon after a narrow
valley opened off to the right, but not going far, its upper end being
choked by a glacier of great extent.

The men rowed as if glad of the chance to stretch their muscles, and
soon after another valley was passed, and again another, but both on the
right, the left side of the fiord being formed by a long, rocky a