THE LAST MILES 129 



the second and third appeared. We both gave a sigh 

 of reHef as they came on; almost simultaneously the 

 three arrived at the tent. We told them the result of 

 our observations up to that time; it looked as if our 

 camp was in about 89° 54' 30" S., and that with our 

 encirclino- we had therefore included the actual Pole. 

 With this result we might very well have been content, 

 but as the weather was so good and gave the impression 

 that it would continue so, and our store of provisions 

 proved on examination to be very ample, we decided to 

 go on for the remaining ten kilometres ( five and a half 

 geographical miles) , and get our position determined as 

 near to the Pole as possible. Meanwhile the three 

 wanderers turned in — not so much because they were 

 tired, as because it was the right thing to do — and 

 Hanssen and I continued the series of observations. 



In the afternoon we again went very carefully through 

 our provision supply before discussing the future. The 

 result was that we had food enough for ourselves and 

 the dogs for eighteen days. The surviving sixteen dogs 

 were divided into two teams of eight each, and the 

 contents of Bjaaland's sledge were shared between 

 Hanssen's and Wisting's. The abandoned sledge was 

 set upright in the snow, and proved to be a splendid 

 mark. The sledge-meter was screwed to the sledge, 

 and we left it there ; our other two were quite sufficient 

 for the return journey; they had all shown themselves 

 very accurate. A couple of empty provision cases were 



