NOISES IN THE ICE 219 



presence of crevasses, but otherwise the surface looked 

 safe enough. The small guns kept up a lively crackle 

 all through the night, and combined with a good deal of 

 uproar among the dogs to shorten our sleep. But the 

 first night of a sledge journey is almost always a bad one. 

 Stubberud declared that he could not close his eyes on 

 account of " that filthy row." He probably expected the 

 ice to open and swallow him up every time he heard it. 

 The surface, however, held securely, and we turned out to 

 the finest day one could wish to see. It did not require 

 any very great strength of mind to get out of one's 

 sleeping-bag now. The stockings that had been hung 

 up in the evening could be put on again as dry as a 

 bone; the sun had seen to that. Our ski boots were as 

 soft as ever; there was not a sign of frost on them. It 

 is quite curious to see the behaviour of the dogs when 

 the first head appears through the tent-door in the 

 morning. They greet their lord and master with the 

 most unmistakable signs of joy, although, of course, 

 they must know that his arrival will be followed by 

 many hours of toil, with, perhaps, a few doses of the 

 whip thrown in; but from the moment he begins to 

 handle the sledge, the dogs look as if they had no desire 

 in the world but to get into the harness as soon as 

 possible and start away. On days like this their troubles 

 would be few; with the light load and good going we 

 had no difficulty in covering nineteen geographical 

 miles in eight hours. Johansen's team was on my 



