We all appreciate how unpleasant it is to be out walking with our favorite French bulldog, and suddenly have our be-ribboned aristocrat forget the dignity that his long pedigree should give him, and dash from our side to make tufts of hair fly from somebody else's equally be-ribboned poodle. Such an occurrence is serious enough--but it becomes a matter of life and death when, miles from home in a frozen country, you are depending on your dogs to bring you safely back again, and your team forgets its duty and becomes a waving mass of legs and tails, from which you hear nothing but the howls of the vanquished. A dog-fight often becomes one of the most terrible catastrophes that can overtake an explorer. With these fierce little Eskimo dogs, the result of such an encounter means generally the loss of two or three, and a walk home with the wounded survivors occupying the sled. Under the circumstances it is very necessary to understand how to handle these useful but eccentric beasts. The Eskimos have reduced this knowledge to a science, and from them Nansen learned to be the master of those dogs which were of so much service to him in his last and greatest expedition. This expedition was undertaken in June, 1893, and its object was to drift across the pole from Siberia to Greenland. During Nansen's Arctic experiences he had noticed that the shores of Greenland were strewn with driftwood of a kind also found on the shores of Siberia. The matter caused him some deep thought, and at length he arrived at the conclusion that there must be a current which crosses the Arctic Ocean and carries this material from Asia to America. After much thought, he came to the conclusion that if he could only build himself a vessel which would withstand the pressure of the ice, and once get into the stream, he and his vessel would be carried with the rest of the drift from Asia to America, and in the course of the trip would be borne right across the North Pole. It was a bold scheme, and for a time no one would listen to it, but Nansen's reputation stood him in good stead here, and finally convinced people that he must have a good foundation for his belief. With the aid of a few wealthy persons and the assistance of the King of Sweden, Nansen was able to have a suitable vessel built, and to make preparations for the undertaking. The greatest danger to Arctic travel is the pressure of the ice. When the winter comes on, and the sea tries to freeze over, the currents and the tides, and the unthawed blocks of ice that have been left from the last winter, cause a terrible disturbance. The ice, in its endeavor to pack itself solidly together, slides over itself with groans and creaks that sound like human cries. The force the ice exerts under these circumstances is enormous, so great indeed that it can crush big ships, and crack their sides as though they were no stronger than eggshells.