mptied of water. Luckily, it had received no injury, as the
beach was of a soft sand; but the sand had penetrated with the water
everywhere, even into the most delicate parts of the locks of our
rifles. But worst of all was the loss of our provisions, for now we
were ravenously hungry. We had to make the best of a bad business,
and eat pieces of bread soaked in sea-water and flavored with several
varieties of dirt. On this occasion, too, I lost my sketch-book,
with some sketches that were of value to me.

It was no easy task to get our heavy game into the boat with these
big waves breaking on the flat beach. We had to keep the boat outside
the surf, and haul both skins and flesh on board with a line; a good
deal of water came with them, but there was no help for it. And then
we had to row north along the shore against the wind and sea as
hard as we could. It was very tough work. The wind had increased,
and it was all we could do to make headway against it. Seals were
diving round us, white whales coming and going, but we had no eyes
for them now. Suddenly Henriksen called out that there was a bear
on the point in front. I turned round, and there stood a beautiful
white fellow rummaging among the flotsam on the beach. As we had
no time to shoot it, we rowed on, and it went slowly in front of us
northward along the shore. At last, with great exertions, we reached
the bay where we were to put in for the reindeer. The bear was there
before us. It had not seen the boat hitherto; but now it got scent
of us, and came nearer. It was a tempting shot. I had my finger on
the trigger several times, but did not draw it. After all, we had no
use for the animal; it was quite as much as we could do to stow away
what we had already. It made a beautiful target of itself by getting
up on a stone to have a better scent, and looked about, and, after
a careful survey, it turned round and set off inland at an easy trot.

The surf was by this time still heavier. It was a flat, shallow shore,
and the waves broke a good way out from land. We rowed in till the
boat touched ground and the breakers began to wash over us. The
only way of getting ashore was to jump into the sea and wade. But
getting the reindeer on board was another matter. There was no
better landing-place farther north, and hard as it was to give up
the excellent meat after all our trouble, it seemed to me there was
nothing else for it, and we rowed off towards our ship.

It was