xxviii INTRODUCTION 



in the Fram, to drift right across the North Polar Sea. 

 What anxieties that man has gone through, which might 

 have been spared him if there had been more apprecia- 

 tion on the part of those who had it in their power to 

 make things easier! And Amundsen had then shown 

 what stuff he was made of: both the great objects of 

 the Gjoas expedition were achieved. He has always 

 reached the goal he has aimed at, this man who sailed 

 his little yacht over the whole Arctic Ocean, round the 

 north of America, on the course that had been sought 

 in vain for four hundred years. If he staked his life 

 and abilities, would it not have been natural if we had 

 been proud of having such a man to support? 



But was it so? 



For a long time he struggled to complete his equip- 

 ment. Money was still lacking, and little interest was 

 shown in him and his work, outside the few who have 

 always helped so far as was in their power. He himself 

 gave everything he possessed in the world. But this 

 time, at last, he nevertheless had to put to sea loaded 

 with anxieties and debts, and, as before, he sailed out 

 quietly on a summer night. 



Autumn was drawing on. One day there came a 

 letter from him. In order to raise the money he could 

 not get at home for his North Polar expedition he was 

 going to the South Pole first. People stood still did 

 not know what to say. This was an unheard-of thing, 

 to make for the North Pole by way of the South Pole ! 



