456 Chapter VIII. 



of the others in the saloon in the afternoon, I heard a dull 

 report out in the galley, and said at once that it sounded 

 like an explosion. Presently Pettersen* stuck a head in 

 at the door as black as a sweep's, great lumps of soot all 

 over it, and said that the stove had exploded right into his 

 face ; he was only going to look if it was burning rightly, 

 and the whole fiendish thing flew out at him. A stream 

 of words not unmingled with oaths flowed like peas out 

 of a sack, while the rest of us yelled with laughter. In 

 the galley it was easy to see that something had 

 happened ; the walls were covered with soot in lumps 

 and stripes pointing towards the fire-place. The 

 explanation of the accident was simple enough. The 

 draught had been insufficient, and a quantity of gas had 

 formed which had not been able to burn until air was 

 let in by Pettersen opening the door. 



" This is a good beginning. I told Pettersen in the 

 evening that I would do the cooking myself next day, 

 when the real trial was to be made. But he would 

 not hear of such a thing ; he said ' I was not to think 

 that he minded a trifle like that ; I might trust to its 

 being all right' and it was all right. From that day 

 I heard nothing but praise of the new apparatus, and 

 it was used until the Fram was out in the open sea 

 again. 



Pettersen had been advanced from smith to cook, and he and 

 Juell took turns of a fortnight each in the galley. 



