PUTTING UP THE HUT 185 



than that to stop those fellows in their work. They 

 built a wind-screen of planks, and did it so well that 

 they were able to work all day, unhindered by drifts, 

 until, when evening came, they had the whole founda- 

 tion dug out. There is no difficulty in doing good 

 work when one has such people to work for one. The 

 stormy weather interfered somewhat with our sledging, 

 and as we found our Alaska harness unsuitable to, the 

 conditions, we went on board and began the preparation 

 of Greenland harness for our dogs. All hands worked 

 at it. Our excellent sailmaker, Ronne, sewed forty-six 

 sets of harness in the course of the month. The rest 

 of us spliced the ropes and made the necessary tackles, 

 while others spliced wire-rope shafts to our sledges. 

 When evening came we had an entirely new set of 

 tackle for all our sledges and dogs. This was very 

 successful, and in a few days the whole was working 

 smoothly. 



We had now divided ourselves between the two tents, 

 so that five men slept in the lower tent, while the two 

 carpenters and I inhabited the upper one. That evening 

 a rather amusing thing happened to us. We were just 

 turning in when suddenly we heard a penguin's cry 

 immediately outside the tent. We were out in a 

 moment. There, a few yards from the door, sat a big 

 Emperor penguin, making bow after bow. It gave 

 exactly the impression of having come up simply to pay 

 us its respects. We were sorry to repay its attention 



