st day, though we have no day. But now
we are moving on to light and summer again. We tried to sound to-day;
had out 2100 metres (over 1100 fathoms) of line without reaching
the bottom. We have no more line; what is to be done? Who could have
guessed that we should find such deep water? There has been an arch of
light in the sky all day, opposite the moon; so it is a lunar rainbow,
but without color, so far as I have been able to see.

"Friday, December 22d. A bear was shot last night. Jacobsen saw it
first, during his watch. He shot at it. It made off; and he then
went down and told about it in the cabin. Mogstad and Peter came on
deck; Sverdrup was called, too, and came up a little later. They
saw the bear on his way towards the ship again; but he suddenly
caught sight of the gallows with the trap on the ice to the west,
and went off there. He looked well at the apparatus, then raised
himself cautiously on his hind-legs, and laid his right paw on the
cross-beam just beside the trap, stared for a little, hesitating,
at the delicious morsel, but did not at all like the ugly jaws round
it. Sverdrup was by this time out at the deck-house, watching in
the sparkling moonshine. His heart was jumping--he expected every
moment to hear the snap of his trap. But the bear shook his head
suspiciously, lowered himself cautiously on to all-fours again,
and sniffed carefully at the wire that the trap was fastened by,
following it along to where it was made fast to a great block of
ice. He went round this, and saw how cleverly it was all arranged,
then slowly followed the wire back, raised himself up as before, with
his paw on the beam of the gallows, had a long look at the trap, and
shook his head again, probably saying to himself, 'These wily fellows
have planned this very cleverly for me.' Now he resumed his march
to the ship. When he was within 60 paces of the bow Peter fired. The
bear fell, but jumped up and again made off. Jacobsen, Sverdrup, and
Mogstad all fired now, and he fell among some hummocks. He was flayed
at once, and in the skin there was only the hole of one ball, which
had gone through him from behind the shoulder-blade. Peter, Jacobsen,
and Mogstad all claimed this ball. Sverdrup gave up his claim, as
he had stood so far astern. Mogstad, seeing the bear fall directly
after his shot, called out, 'I gave him that one'; Jacobsen swears
that it was he that hit; and Bentzen, who was standing looking on,
is prepared to