ainst the Fram's sides. Now (8.30 P.M.) the pressure has at last
stopped. Clear evening, sparkling stars, and flaming northern lights."

I had finished writing my diary, gone to bed, and was lying reading,
in The Origin of Species, about the struggle for existence, when
I heard the dogs out on the ice making more noise than usual. I
called into the saloon that some one ought to go up and see if it was
bears they were barking at. Hansen went, and came back immediately,
saying that he believed he had seen some large animal out in the
dark. "Go and shoot it, then." That he was quite ready to do, and
went up again at once, accompanied by some of the others. A shot
went off on deck above my head, then another; shot followed shot,
nine in all. Johansen and Henriksen rushed down for more cartridges,
and declared that the creature was shot, it was roaring so horribly;
but so far they had only indistinctly seen a large grayish-white
mass out there in the dark, moving about among the dogs. Now they
were going on to the ice after it. Four of them set off, and not far
away they really did find a dead bear, with marks of two shots. It
was a young one. The old one must be at hand, and the dogs were still
barking loudly. Now they all felt sure that they had seen two together,
and that the other also must be badly wounded. Johansen and Henriksen
heard it groaning in the distance when they were out on the ice again
afterwards to fetch a knife they had left lying where the dead one
had lain. The creature had been dragged on board and skinned at once,
before it had time to stiffen in the cold.

"Sunday, October 15th. To our surprise, the ice did not slacken away
much during last night after the violent pressure; and, what was worse,
there was no indication of slackening in the morning, now that we
were quite ready to go. Slight signs of it showed themselves a little
later, upon which I gave orders to get up steam; and while this was
being done I took a stroll on the ice, to look for traces of yesterday
evening. I found tracks not only of the bear that had been killed and
of a larger one that might be the mother, but of a third, which must
have been badly wounded, as it had sometimes dragged itself on its
hind quarters, and had left a broad track of blood. After following
the traces for a good way and discovering that I had no weapon to
despatch the animal with but my own fists, I thought it would be as
well to return to the ship to get a