ON BOARD THE " FRAM " 271 



moment's grace to give the captain and crew a hearty 

 shake of the hand, and then I collected them all about 

 me and gave a short account of the most important 

 events of the past year. When this was done, Captain 

 Nilsen pulled me into the chart-house, where we had a 

 talk that lasted till about four the next morning — to both 

 of us certainly one of the most interesting we have ever 

 had. On Nilsen's asking about the prospects of the 

 southern party, I ventured to assure liim that in all 

 probability we should have our Chief and his companions 

 back in a few days with the Pole in their pockets. 



Our letters from home brought nothing but good 

 news. What interested us most in the newspapers was, 

 of course, the account of how the expedition's change of 

 route had been received. 



At 8 a.m. we left the Fram and returned home. For 

 the next few days we were occupied with the work of 

 surveying and charting, which went comparatively 

 quickly in the favourable weather. When we returned 

 after our day's work on the afternoon of the 17th, we 

 found Lieutenant Gjertsen back at the hut. He asked 

 us if we could guess the news, and as we had no answer 

 ready, he told us that the ship of the Japanese expedition 

 had arrived. We hurriedly got out the cinematograph 

 apparatus and the camera, and went off as fast as the 

 dogs could go, since Gjertsen thought this visit would 

 not be of long duration. 



When we caught sight of the Fram she had her flag 



