THE PLAN OUTLINED 53 



be some who would attack me and accuse me of " shabby 

 rivalry," etc., and they would perhaps have had some 

 shadow of justification if we had really thought of 

 taking Captain Scott's route. But it never occurred to 

 us for a moment. Our starting-point lay 350 geograph- 

 ical miles from Scott's winter quarters in McMurdo 

 Sound, so there could be no question of encroaching 

 upon his sphere of action. Moreover, Professor Nansen, 

 in his direct and convincing way, has put an end once 

 for all to this twaddle, so that I need not dwell upon it 

 any longer. 



I worked out the plan, as here given, at my home on 

 Bundef jord, near Christiania, in September, 1909, and 

 as it was laid, so was it carried out to the last detail. 

 That my estimate of the time it would take was not so 

 very far out is proved by the final sentence of the plan : 

 ' Thus we shall be back from the Polar journey on 

 January 25." It was on January 25, 1912, that we came 

 into Framheim after our successful journey to the Pole. 



This was not the only time our calculations proved 

 correct ; Captain Nilsen showed himself to be a veritable 

 magician in this way. While I contented myself with 

 reckoning dates, he did not hesitate to go into hours. 

 He calculated that we should reach the Barrier on 

 January 15, 1911; this is a distance of 16,000 geo- 

 graphical miles from Norway. We were at the Barrier 

 on January 14, one day before the time. There was 

 not much wrong with that estimate. 



