The Spring and Summer of 1894. 403 



These lanes never attained any great width, and 

 there was consequently no question of getting the 

 Frain afloat in any of them ; and even could we have 

 done so, it would have been of very little avail, as 

 none of them was large enough to have taken her 

 more than a few cable-lengths further north. Some- 

 times there were indications in the sky that there must 

 be large stretches of open water in our vicinity, and 

 we could now and then see from the crow's-nest large 

 spaces of clear water in the horizon ; but they could 

 not have been large enough to be of much use when 

 it came to a question of pushing forward with a ship. 



Sanguine folk on board, however, attached more 

 importance to such open stretches. June I5th I wrote 

 in my diary : " There are several lanes visible in 

 different directions, but none of them is wide or of 

 any great extent. The mate, however, is always 

 insisting that we shall certainly get open water before 

 autumn, and be able to creep along northwards, while, 

 with the rest, Sverdrup excepted, it seems to be a 

 generally accepted belief. Where they are to get their 

 open water from I do not know. For the rest, this 

 is the first ice-bouncl expedition that has not spent the 

 summer spying after open water, and sighing and 

 longing for the ice to disperse. I only wish it may 

 keep together, and hurry up and drift northwards. 

 Everything in this life depends on what one has made 

 up one's mind to. One person sets forth to sail in open 



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