The Winter Night. 237 



" Friday, October I3th. Now we are in the very midst 

 of what the prophets would have had us dread so much. 

 The ice is pressing and packing round us with a noise 

 like thunder. It is piling itself up into long walls, and 

 heaps high enough to reach a good way up the Fram s 

 rigging ; in fact, it is trying its very utmost to grind the 

 Fram into powder. But here we sit quite tranquil, 

 not even going up to look at all the hurly-burly, but 

 just chatting and laughing, as usual. Last night there 

 was tremendous pressure round our old dog-floe. The 

 ice had towered up higher than the highest point of the 

 lloe, and hustled down upon it. It had quite spoilt a 

 well, where we till now had found good drinking water, 

 filling it with brine. Furthermore, it had cast itself 

 over our stern ice-anchor and part of the steel cable, 

 which held it, burying them so effectually that we had 

 afterwards to cut the cable. Then it covered our planks 

 and sledo-es, which stood on the ice. Before lono- the 



O *:!> 



dogs w r ere in danger, and the watch had to turn out all 

 hands to save them. At last the floe split in two. This 

 morning the ice was one scene of melancholy confusion, 

 gleaming in the most glorious sunshine. Piled up all 

 round us were high, steep ice walls. Strangely enough, 

 we had lain on the very verge of the worst confusion, and 

 had escaped with the loss of an ice-anchor, a piece of 

 steel cable, a few planks and other bits of wood, and 

 half of a Samoyede sledge, all of which might have 

 been saved if we had looked after them in time. 



