HANSSEN'S REGRETS 11 



By 4 p.m. it cleared, and a small reconnoitring party, 

 composed of three, started to find a way out of this. I 

 was one of the three, so we had a long Alpine rope 

 between us; I don't like tumbling in, if I can avoid it 

 by such simple means. We set out to the east — ^the 

 direction that had brought us out of the same broken 

 ground before — and we had not gone more than a few 

 paces when we were quite out of it. It was now clear 

 enough to look about us. Our tent stood at the north- 

 eastern corner of a tract that was full of hummocks; 

 we could decide beyond a doubt that this was the 

 dreaded trap. We continued a little way to the east 

 until we saw our course clearly, and then returned to 

 camp. We did not waste much time in getting things 

 ready and leaving the place. It was a genuine relief 

 to find ourselves once more on good ground, and we 

 resumed our journey southward at a brisk pace. 



That we were not quite out of the dangerous zone 

 was shown by a number of small hummocks to the 

 south of us. They extended across our course at right 

 angles. We could also see from some long but narrow 

 crevasses we crossed that we must keep a good look- 

 out. When we came into the vicinity of the line of 

 hummocks that lay in our course, we stopped and dis- 

 cussed our prospects. " We shall save a lot of time by 

 going straight on through here instead of going round," 

 said Hanssen. I had to admit this; but, on the other 

 hand, the risk was much greater. " Oh, let's try it," he 



