t out into the sea. At last
it got its quietus there in the water. The other one was not far off,
and a ball soon put an end to its sufferings also. As I was proceeding
to rip it up, Henriksen and Johansen appeared; they had just shot a
bear a little farther south.

After disembowelling the reindeer, we went towards the boat again,
meeting Sverdrup on the way. It was now well on in the morning, and
as I considered that we had already spent too much time here, I was
impatient to push northward. While Sverdrup and some of the others
went on board to get ready for the start, the rest of us rowed south to
fetch our two reindeer and our bear. A strong breeze had begun to blow
from the northeast, and as it would be hard work for us to row back
against it, I had asked Sverdrup to come and meet us with the Fram,
if the soundings permitted of his doing so. We saw quantities of seal
and white fish along the shore, but we had not time to go after them;
all we wanted now was to get south, and in the first place to pick up
the bear. When we came near the place where we expected to find it,
we did see a large white heap resembling a bear lying on the ground,
and I was sure it must be the dead one, but Henriksen maintained that
it was not. We went ashore and approached it, as it lay motionless on
a grassy bank. I still felt a strong suspicion that it had already
had all the shot it wanted. We drew nearer and nearer, but it gave
no sign of life. I looked into Henriksen's honest face, to make sure
that they were not playing a trick on me; but he was staring fixedly
at the bear. As I looked, two shots went off, and to my astonishment
the great creature bounded into the air, still dazed with sleep. Poor
beast! it was a harsh awakening. Another shot, and it fell lifeless.

We first tried to drag the bears down to the boat, but they were
too heavy for us; and we now had a hard piece of work skinning and
cutting them up, and carrying down all we wanted. But, bad as it was,
trudging through the soft clay with heavy quarters of bear on our
backs, there was worse awaiting us on the beach. The tide had risen,
and at the same time the waves had got larger and swamped the boat,
and were now breaking over it. Guns and ammunition were soaking in
the water; bits of bread, our only provision, floated round, and the
butter-dish lay at the bottom, with no butter in it. It required
no small exertion to get the boat drawn up out of this heavy surf
and e