ON BOARD THE " FRAM " 175 



about the Pole. At last it slipped out of Gjertsen: 

 " Have you been there?" Joy is a poor name for the 

 feeling that beamed in my comrades' faces; it was 

 something more. 



I shut myself up in the chart-house with Captain 

 Nilsen, who gave me my mail and all the news. Three 

 names stood high above the rest, when I was able to 

 understand all that had happened — the names of the 

 three who gave me their support when it was most 

 needed. I shall always remember them in respectful 

 gratitude — 



H.M. The King, 

 Professor Fridtjof Nansen, 

 Don Pedro Christophersen. 



