THE END OF THE JOURNEY 121 



their scenting, and appeared to have lost their interest 

 in the regions about the earth's axis. 



At three in the afternoon a simultaneous " Halt !" 

 rang out from the drivers. They had carefully examined 

 their sledge-meters, and they all showed the full distance 

 — our Pole by reckoning. The goal was reached, the 

 journey ended. I cannot say — though I know it would 

 sound much more effective — that the object of my life 

 w^as attained. That would be romancing rather too bare- 

 facedly. I had better be honest and admit straight 

 out that I have never known any man to be placed in 

 such a diametrically opposite position to the goal of 

 his desires as I was at that moment. The regions 

 around the North Pole — well, yes, the North Pole 

 itself — had attracted me from cliildhood, and here I 

 was at the South Pole. Can anything more topsy- 

 turvy be imagined? 



We reckoned now that we were at the Pole. Of 

 course, every one of us knew that we were not standing 

 on the absolute spot; it would be an impossibility with 

 the time and the instruments at our disposal to ascertain 

 that exact spot. But we were so near it that the few 

 miles which possibly separated us from it could not be 

 of the slightest importance. It was our intention to 

 make a circle round this camp, with a radius of twelve 

 and a half miles (20 kilometres), and to be satisfied 

 with that. After we had halted we collected and con- 

 gratulated each other. We had good grounds for 



VOL. II. 34 



