up; one could see how pleased he was.  He wound up the doll and put it on the table; as soon as he let it go, it began to turn somersaults, one after another, endlessly.  And Lindstrom?  Well, he laughed till he must have been near convulsions, crying out all the while:  “That’s right, Olava; go it again!” I then looked at the doll carefully, and it was certainly something out of the common.  The head was that of an old woman —­ evidently a disagreeable old maid —­ with yellow hair, a hanging under-jaw, and a love-sick expression.  She wore a dress of red-and-white check, and when she turned head over heels it caused, as might be expected, some disturbance of her costume.  The figure, one could see, had originally been an acrobat, but these ingenious Polar explorers had transformed it into this hideous shape.  When the experiment was repeated, and I understood the situation, I could not help roaring, too, but Lindstrom was so deeply occupied that he did not hear me.  After amusing himself for about ten minutes with this, he got tired of Olava, and put her up on the weight again.  She sat there nodding and bowing until she was forgotten.

Meanwhile Lindstrom had gone to his bunk, and was lying half in it.  Now, I thought to myself, he is going to take a little nap before dinner.  But no; he came out again at once, holding a tattered old pack of cards in his hand.  He went back to his place, and began a quiet and serious game of patience.  It did not take long, and was probably not very complicated, but it served its purpose.  One could see what a pleasure it was to him whenever a card came in its right place.  Finally, all the cards were in order; he had finished the game.  He sat a little while longer, enjoying the sight of the finished packs; then he picked them all up with a sigh, and rose, mumbling:  “Yes, he’ll get to the Pole, that’s sure; and, what’s more, he’ll get there first.”  He put the cards back on the shelf in his bunk, and looked well pleased with himself.

Then the process of laying the table began once more, but with far less noise than in the morning; there was nobody to be annoyed by it now.  At five minutes to twelve a big ship’s bell was rung, and not long after the diners began to arrive.  They did not make any elaborate toilet, but sat down to table at once.  The dishes were not many:  a thick, black seal soup, with all manner of curious things in it —­ seal meat cut into " small dice” is no doubt the expression, but it would be misleading here; “large dice” we had better call them —­ with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, turnips, peas, celery, prunes, and apples.  I should like to know what our cooks at home would call that dish.  Two large jugs of syrup and water stood on the table.  Now I had another surprise; I was under the impression that a dinner like this passed off in silence, but that was by no means the case here.  They talked the whole time, and the conversation chiefly turned on what they had been doing during the forenoon.  For dessert they had some green plums.  Pipes and books soon made their appearance.