he first pangs of his hunger, he had come back and fetched No. 2,
and, if he had been allowed, he would have continued the performance
until the deck was cleared of dogs. Then he would probably have come
bumping down-stairs 'and beckoned with cold hand' in at the galley
door to Juell. It must have been a pleasant feeling for 'Svarten'
to stand there in the dark and see the bear come creeping in upon him.

"When I went below after this bear affair, Juell said as I passed the
galley door, 'You'll see that "Kvik" will have her pups to-day; for
it's always the way here on board, that things happen together.' And,
sure enough, when we were sitting in the saloon in the evening,
Mogstad, who generally plays 'master of the hounds,' came and
announced the arrival of the first. Soon there was another, and then
one more. This news was a little balsam to our wounds. 'Kvik' has got
a good warm box, lined with fur, up in the passage on the starboard;
it is so warm there that she is lying sweating, and we hope that the
young ones will live, in spite of 54 degrees of frost. It seems this
evening as if every one had some hesitation in going out on the ice
unarmed. Our bayonet-knives have been brought out, and I am providing
myself with one. I must say that I felt quite certain that we should
find no bears as far north as this in the middle of winter; and it
never occurred to me, in making long excursions on the ice without
so much as a penknife in my pocket, that I was liable to encounters
with them. But, after Peter's experience, it seems as if it might be
as well to have, at any rate, a lantern to hit them with. The long
bayonet-knife shall accompany me henceforth.

"They often chaffed Peter afterwards about having screamed so horribly
when the bear seized him. 'H'm! I wonder,' said he, 'if there aren't
others that would have screeched just as loud. I had to yell after
the fellows that were so afraid of frightening the bear that when
they ran they covered seven yards at each stride.'

"Thursday, December 14th. 'Well, Mogstad, how many pups have you
now?' I asked at breakfast. 'There are five now.' But soon after he
came down to tell me that there were at least twelve. Gracious! that
is good value for what we have lost. But we were almost as pleased
when Johansen came down and said that he heard the missing dog
howling on the ice far away to the northwest. Several of us went up
to listen, and we could all hear him quite well; but it