ee the sun rise bright
and glorious above the horizon in a few minutes; but we shall have
to wait a month yet for that.

"Saturday, January 20th. I had about 600 pounds of pemmican and 200
pounds of bread brought up from the hold to-day and stowed on the
forecastle. It is wrong not to have some provisions on deck against
any sudden emergency, such as fire.

"Sunday, January 21st. We took a long excursion to the northwest;
the ice in that direction, too, was tolerably flat. Sverdrup and
I got on the top of a high-pressure mound at some distance from
here. It was in the centre of what had been very violent packing,
but, all the same, the wall at its highest was not over 17 feet,
and this was one of the highest and biggest altogether that I have
seen yet. An altitude of the moon taken this evening showed us to
be in 79 deg. 35' north latitude--exactly what I had thought. We are so
accustomed now to calculating our drift by the wind that we are able
to tell pretty nearly where we are. This is a good step northward,
if we could take many more such. In honor of the King's birthday we
have a treat of figs, raisins, and almonds.

"Tuesday, January 23d. When I came on deck this morning 'Caiaphas'
was sitting out on the ice on the port quarter, barking incessantly
to the east. I knew there must be something there, and went off with
a revolver, Sverdrup following with one also. When I got near the dog
he came to meet me, always wriggling his head round to the east and
barking; then he ran on before us in that direction; it was plain that
there was some animal there, and of course it could only be a bear. The
full moon stood low and red in the north, and sent its feeble light
obliquely across the broken ice-surface. I looked out sharply in all
directions over the hummocks, which cast long, many-shaped shadows; but
I could distinguish nothing in this confusion. We went on, 'Caiaphas'
first, growling and barking and pricking his ears, and I after him,
expecting every moment to see a bear loom up in front of us. Our
course was eastward along the opening. The dog presently began to go
more cautiously and straighter forward; then he stopped making any
noise except a low growl--we were evidently drawing near. I mounted
a hummock to look about, and caught sight among the blocks of ice of
something dark, which seemed to be coming towards us. 'There comes a
black dog,' I called. 'No, it is a bear,' said Sverdrup, who was more
to the sid