WE MOVE INTO FRAMHEIM 193 



once got in the humour for playing tricks of that sort, 

 it was by no means easy to get them under control. 

 We all of us had this experience without exception. 

 Not one of us escaped this little extra turn. As the 

 provisions came up each driver took them off his sledge, 

 and laid the cases in the order in which they should lie. 

 We began by placing each sort by itself in small groups 

 over the slope. This plan had the advantage that 

 everything would be easy to find. The load was 

 usually 660 pounds, or 6 cases to each sledge. We 

 had about 900 cases to bring up, and reckoned that 

 we should have them all in place in the course of a 

 week. Everything went remarkably well according to 

 our reckoning. 



By noon on Saturday, January 28, the hut was ready, 

 and all the 900 cases were in place. The depot of pro- 

 visions had quite an imposing appearance. Great rows of 

 cases stood in the snow, all with their numbers outward, 

 so that we could find what we wanted at once. And 

 there was the house, all finished, exactly as it had stood 

 in its native place on Bundefjord. But it would be 

 difficult to imagine more different surroundings: there, 

 green pinewoods and splashing water ; here, ice, nothing 

 but ice. But both scenes were beautiful ; I stood think- 

 ing which I preferred. My thoughts travelled far- 

 thousands of miles in a second. It was the forest that 

 gained the day. 



As I have already mentioned, we had everything with 

 VOL. i. 13 



