324 A DAY AT FRAMHEIM 



only brought me up this way to save my having to crawl 

 back again. ' We are going in now," he adds, " to con- 

 tinue our journey under the surface." I see that there 

 is no getting out of it, although I am beginning to have 

 enough of these underground passages. My host seems 

 to guess my thoughts, as he adds : " We must see them 

 now when the men are working. Afterwards they will 

 not have the same interest." I see that he is right, pull 

 myself together, and follow him. 



But Fate wills it otherwise. As we come out on the 

 [Barrier, Hanssen is standing therewith his sledge and six 

 fresh dogs harnessed. My companion has just time to 

 whisper to me, "Jump on; I'll wait here," when the 

 sledge starts off at a terrific pace with me as a pas- 

 senger, unsuspected by Hanssen. 



We went along so that the snow dashed over us. 

 He had his dogs well in hand, this fellow, I could see 

 that; but they were a wild lot of rascals he had to deal 

 with. I heard the names of Hok and Togo in par- 

 ticular; they seemed inclined for mischief. All of a 

 sudden they darted back on their companions under the 

 traces, and got the whole team in a tangle; but they 

 were not able to do very much, as the whip, which was 

 wielded with great dexterity, constantly sang about their 

 ears. The two sausages I had noticed on the slope 

 Ring and Mylius were leaders ; they, too, were full of 

 pranks, but kept their places. Hai and Rap were also 

 in the team. Rap, whose ear was split, would have 





