330 A DAY AT FRAMHEIM 



first one did. Everything became quiet again; it was 

 only in the kitchen that one could tell that the Barrier 

 was inhabited. 



At half -past two Bjaaland, who had been out, came 

 in and announced that now it was all a mass of steam. 

 I watched Hassel anxiously. Yes; this announcement 

 seemed to put life into him. He got up and began to 

 undress. Very strange, I thought; what can this be? 

 I tried the Sherlock Holmes method first Bjaaland 

 goes out; that is fact number one. Then he comes 

 back; that I could also make sure of. So far the 

 method worked well. But then comes the third item: 

 ' It is all a mass of steam." What in the world does 

 that mean? The man has gone out if not out on to 

 the Barrier, then certainly into it into snow-ice, and 

 then he comes back and says that it is all a mass of 

 steam. It seems ridiculous absurd. I send Sherlock 

 Holmes to the deuce, and watch Hassel with increasing 



excitement ; if he takes any more off I felt I was 



blushing, and half turned my head, but there he stopped. 

 Then he picked up a towel, and away we went: out 

 through the pent-house door it was all I could do to 



follow him along the snow tunnel in nothing but 



Here steam really began to meet us, getting thicker 

 and thicker as we came into the Barrier. The tunnel 

 became so full of steam that I could see nothing. 

 I thought with longing of the tail of Amundsen's 

 anorak that was so useful on such occasions, but here 



