58 THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS 



otherwise have done. Judgment had already been 

 pronounced, and the selection made of those who were 

 worthy of prolonged life and those who were to be 

 sacrificed. This had been, I may add, a difficult problem 

 to solve, so efficient were they all. 



The rumblings continued all night, and one avalanche 

 after another exposed parts of the mountain-sides that 

 had been concealed from time immemorial. The 

 following day, November 20, we were up and away 

 at the usual time, about 8 a.m. The weather was 

 splendid, calm and clear. Getting up over the saddle 

 was a rough beginning of the day for our dogs, and they 

 gave a good account of themselves, pulling the sledges 

 up with single teams this time. The going was heavy, 

 as on the preceding day, and our advance through the 

 loose snow was not rapid. We did not follow our 

 tracks of the day before, but laid our course directty for 

 the place where we had decided to attempt the ascent. 

 As we approached INIount Ole Engelstad, under which 

 we had to pass in order to come into the arm of the 

 glacier between it and Mount Nansen, our excitement 

 began to rise. What does the end look like? Does 

 the glacier go smoothly on into the plateau, or is it 

 broken up and impassable ? We rounded JNIount Engel- 

 stad more and more ; wider and wider grew the opening. 

 The surface looked extremely good as it gradually came 

 into view, and it did not seem as though our assumption 

 of the previous day would be put to shame. At last 



