190 ON THE BARRIER 



the sledge upset they soon pulled up. Then, if one was 

 wise, one put them on the right course again quietly 

 and calmly, hoisted the sledge on to an even keel, and 

 went on. But one is not always wise, unfortunately. 

 ,The desire to be revenged on the disobedient rascals gets 

 the upper hand, and one begins to deal out punishment. 

 'But this is not so easy as it seems. So long as you are 

 sitting on the capsized sledge it makes a good anchor, 

 but now without a load it is no use, and the dogs 

 know that. So while you are thrashing one the others 

 start off, and the result is not always flattering to the 

 driver. If he is lucky he gets on to the capsized sledge 

 again, but we have seen dogs and sledges arrive without 

 drivers. All this trouble in the early morning sets the 

 blood in active circulation, and one arrives at the ship 

 drenched with perspiration, in spite of a temperature 

 of - 5 F. But it sometimes happens that there is no 

 interruption, and then the drive is soon over. The dogs 

 want no encouragement ; they are willing enough. The 

 mile and a quarter from the lower camp to the Fram is 

 then covered in a few minutes. 



When we came out of the tent on the morning of 

 January 21 we were greatly surprised. We thought we 

 must be mistaken, rubbed our eyes, opened them wider ; 

 but no, it was no good. The Fram was no longer to 

 be seen. It had been blowing pretty strongly during 

 the night, with snow-squalls. Presumably the weather 

 had forced them to put out. We could also hear the 



