2O2 Chapter V. 



morning and forenoon, so that we were still going at 

 half speed, as we were afraid of coming suddenly on 

 something. Now we are almost in 77 north latitude. 

 How long is it to go on ? I have said all along that I 

 should be glad if we reached 78 ; but Sverdrup is less 

 easily satisfied ; he says over 80 perhaps 84, 85. He 

 even talks seriously of the open Polar Sea, which he 

 once read about ; he always comes back upon it, in spite 

 of my laughing at him. 



" I have almost to ask myself if this is not a dream. 

 One must have gone against the stream to know what 

 it means to go with the stream. As it was on the 

 Greenland Expedition, so it is here :.- 



" ' Dort ward der Traum zur Wirklichkeit, 

 Hier wird die Wirklichkeit zum Traum ! ' 



" Hardly any life visible here. Saw an auk or black 

 guillemot to-dav, and later a sea-gull in the distance. 



^> m/ ' fJ 



When I was hauling up a bucket of water in the 

 evening to wash the deck, I noticed that it was 



o 



sparkling with phosphorescence. One could almost 

 have imagined one's self to be in the south. 



"Wednesday, September 2Oth. I have had a rough 

 awakening from my dream. As I was sitting at 1 1 a.m. 

 looking at the map and thinking that my cup would 

 soon be full we had almost reached 78- -there was 

 a sudden luff, and I rushed out. Ahead of us lay the 



