380 Chapter VI. 



All is so still and dead, so stiff and shrunken under the 

 mantle of ice. Ah ! .... the very soul freezes. What 

 would I not give for a single day of struggle for 

 even a moment of danger ! 



" Still I must wait, and watch the drift ; but, should it 

 take a wrong direction, then I will break all the bridges 

 behind me, and stake everything on a northward march 

 over the ice. I know nothing better to do. It will be 

 a hazardous journey, a matter, may be, of life or death. 

 But have I any other choice ? 



"It is unworthy of a man to set himself a task and 

 then give in when the brunt of the battle is upon him. 

 There is but one way, and that is Fram forwards. 



" Tuesday, March 27th. We are again drifting 

 southwards, and the wind is northerly. The midday 

 observation showed 80 4' N. lat. But why so 

 dispirited ? I am staring myself blind at one single 

 point am thinking solely of reaching the Pole and 

 forcing our way through to the Atlantic Ocean. And 

 all the time our real task is to explore the unknown 

 polar regions. Are we doing nothing in the service 

 of science ? It will be a goodly collection of observa- 

 tions that we shall take home with us from this region, 

 with which we are now rather too well acquainted. The 

 rest is, and remains, a mere matter of vanity. ' Love 

 truth more, and victory less.' 



" I look at Eilif Peterssen's picture, a Norwegian pine 

 forest, and I am there in spirit. How marvellously 



