188 ON THE BARRIER 



that it means hard work, they all show signs of the 

 greatest rapture at the sight of it. I must hasten to 

 add, however, that this only happens at home. Long 

 and fatiguing sledge journeys show a very different 

 state of things. When it came to harnessing, the first 

 trouble of the day began. It was impossible to get 

 them to stand still. The full meal of the previous 

 evening, followed by the night's rest, had given them 

 such a superabundance of energy and joy of life that 

 nothing could make them stand still. They had to 

 have a taste of the whip, and yet it was a pity to start 

 that. After having securely anchored the sledge, one 

 was ready at last with one's team of six dogs harnessed. 

 Now it might be thought that all was plain sailing and 

 that one had only to cast off one's moorings and be 

 taken straight down to the ship. But that was far from 

 being the case. Round about the camp a number of 

 objects had collected in a short time, such as packing- 

 cases, building materials, empty sledges, etc., and to 

 steer clear of these was the great problem of the morn- 

 ing. The dogs' greatest interest was, of course, con- 

 centrated upon these objects, and one had to be extremely 

 lucky to avoid a spill. 



Let us follow one of these morning drives. The men 

 are all ready and have their dogs well harnessed. One, 

 two, three, and we let them all go at once. We are off 

 like the wind, and before one has time to swing the 

 whip one finds oneself in the middle of a heap of build- 



