Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/146

 Nansen a warm drink, and put him to bed in his sleeping bag.

Two days later Nansen went walrus hunting, and had another narrow escape. One of the walruses stuck his tusks through the side of the kayak and nearly upset it, but Nansen struck the walrus with the paddle until he loosed his hold and swam away.

Shortly after this adventure, Nansen was one day standing on a hummock, looking round over the vast desert of snow, ice, and rock. Suddenly he heard a sound like the bark of a dog, and then something very like the report of a gun. He shouted to Johansen, who called back that he heard nothing. Nevertheless, Nansen resolved to go in the direction of the sound, and find out what it was. Off he started over the hummocks. After traveling some distance he came upon the footprints of an animal. It might have been the track of a fox or a wolf, but it looked strangely like the track of a dog. Then Nansen distinctly heard a dog barking in the distance. Very soon he heard a human voice also. Wild with excitement and joy, he mounted a hummock and shouted at the top of his lungs.

An answering shout started him off at full speed in the direction from which it came. Amid a sea of hummocks, Nansen soon saw the figure of a man, followed by a dog. The two men walked toward each other, waving their hats. When they met they shook hands, and after they had exchanged a few words the stranger looked sharply at Nansen, and said, "Are you not Nansen?"

"Yes, I am."

"By Jove! I am glad to meet you."

The two shook hands again and again. The stranger was Jackson, the English Arctic explorer, and his ship, the