GOING WELL 143 



seen in the dogs. Wisting now used a sail on his 

 sledge, and was thus able to keep up with Hanssen. If 

 anyone had seen the procession that came marching 

 over the plateau at that time, he would hardly have 

 thought we had been out for seventy days at a stretch, 

 for we came at a swinging pace. We always had the 

 wind at our backs, with sunshine and warmth the whole 

 time. There was never a thought of using the whip 

 now; the dogs were bursting with health, and tugged 

 at their harness to get away. It was a hard time for 

 our worthy forerunner; he often had to spurt as much 

 as he could to keep clear of Hanssen's dogs. Wisting 

 in full sail, with his dogs howling for joy, came close 

 behind. Hassel had his work cut out to follow, and, 

 indeed, I had the same. The surface was absolutely 

 polished, and for long stretches at a time we could push 

 ourselves along with our sticks. The dogs were com- 

 pletely changed since we had left the Pole; strange as 

 it may sound, it is nevertheless true that they were 

 putting on flesh day by day, and getting quite fat. 

 I believe it must have been feeding them on fresh 

 meat and pemmican together that did this. We were 

 again able to increase our ration of pemmican from 

 December 28; the daily ration was 1 pound 

 (450 grams) per man, and we could not manage more 

 — at least, I think not. 



On December 29 we went downhiU more and more, 

 and it was indeed tough work being a ski-runirer. The 



