62 PLAN AND PREPARATIONS 



I am afraid things would look badly before the journey 

 was done. I must admit that there was some temptation 

 to do this. It would have been very much cheaper if I 

 had simply given each man a list of what clothes he 

 was required to provide for himself. But by so doing 

 I should have missed the opportunity of personally 

 supervising the quality of the clothing to the extent I 

 desired. 



It was not an outfit that cut a dash by its 

 appearance, but it was warm and strong. From the 

 commissariat stores at Horten I obtained many excel- 

 lent articles. I owe Captain Pedersen, the present 

 chief of the Commissariat Department, my heartiest 

 thanks for the courtesy he always showed me when I 

 came to get things out of him. Through him I had 

 about 200 blankets served out to me. Now, the reader 

 must not imagine a bed and bedding, such as he may 

 see exhibited in the windows of furniture shops, with 

 thick, white blankets, so delicate that in spite of their 

 thickness they look as if they might float away of their 

 own accord, so light and fine do they appear. It was 

 not blankets like these that Captain Pedersen gave us; 

 we should not have known what to do with them if he 

 had. The blankets the commissariat gave us were of 

 an entirely different sort. As to their colour well, I 

 can only call it indeterminable and they did not give 

 one the impression that they would float away either, if 

 one let go of them. No, they would keep on the 



