Hanssen drew up smartly by the rows of cases and halted.  We stepped off the sledge.  He stood still for a moment and looked round, then turned the sledge over, with the runners in the air.  I supposed he did this to prevent the dogs making off when his back was turned; personally, I thought it was a poor safeguard.  I jumped up on a case, and sat there to await what developments might come.  And they came in the form of Zanko.  Hanssen had moved off a little way with a piece of paper in his hand, and seemed to be examining the cases as he went along.  Zanko had now reached his friends, Ring and Mylius, and the meeting was a very cordial one on both sides.  This was too much for Hok; he was on to them like a rocket, followed by his friend Togo.  Hai and Rap never let such an opportunity escape them, and they eagerly flung themselves into the thick of the fight.  “Stop that, you blackguards!” It was Hanssen who threw this admonition in advance, as he came rushing back.  Zanko, who was free, had kept his head sufficiently to observe the approaching danger; without much hesitation, he cut away and made for Framheim with all possible speed.  Whether the others missed their sixth combatant, or whether they, too, became aware of Hanssen’s threatening approach, I am unable to determine; certain it is that they all got clear of each other, as though at a given signal, and made off the same way.  The capsized sledge made no difference to them; they went like the wind over the slope, and disappeared by the flagstaff.  Hanssen did not take long to make up his mind, but what was the use?  He went as fast as he could, no doubt, but had reached no farther than to the flagstaff, when the dogs, with the capsized sledge behind them, ran into Framheim and were stopped there.

I went quietly back, well pleased with the additional experience.  Down on the level I met Hanssen on his way to the depot a second time; he looked extremely angry, and the way in which he used the whip did not promise well for the dogs’ backs.  Zanko was now harnessed in the team.  On my return to Framheim I saw no one, so I slipped into the pent-house, and waited for an opportunity of getting into the kitchen.  This was not long in coming.  Puffing and gasping like a small locomotive, Lindstrom swung in from the passage that led round the house.  In his arms he again carried the big bucket full of ice, and an electric lamp hung from his mouth.  In order to open the kitchen-door, he had only to give it a push with his knee; I slipped in.  The house was empty.  Now, I thought, I shall have a good chance of seeing what Lindstrom does when he is left alone.  He put down the bucket of ice, and gradually filled up the water-pot which was on the fire.  Then he looked at the clock:  a quarter-past eleven —­ good; dinner will be ready in time.  He drew a long, deep sigh, then went into the room, filled and lit his pipe.  Thereupon he sat down and took up a doll that was sitting on a letter-weight.  His whole face lighted