154 THE RETURN TO FRAMHEIM 



ski sticking up out of the snow. We cheerfully set our 

 course for the spot, but did not reach it until we had 

 gone three miles. 



There was rejoicing in our little band when we arrived 

 and saw that what we had considered the most important 

 point of our homeward journey had been reached. It 

 was not so much for the sake of the food it contained 

 that we considered it so necessary to find this spot, as 

 for discovering the way down to the Barrier again. And 

 now that we stood there, we recognized this necessity 

 more than ever. For although we now knew, from our 

 bearings, exactly where the descent lay, we could see 

 nothing of it at all. The plateau there seemed to go 

 right up to the mountain, without any opening towards 

 the lower ground beyond; and yet the compass told us 

 that such an opening must exist, and would take us 

 down. The mountain, on which we had thus walked 

 all day on the outward journey, without knowing any- 

 thing of it, was Mount Fridtjof Nansen. Yes, the 

 difference in the light made a surprising alteration in 

 the appearance of things. 



The first thing we did on reaching the depot was 

 to take out the dogs' carcasses that lay there and cut 

 them into big lumps, that were divided among the dogs. 

 They looked rather surprised; they had not been 

 accustomed to such rations. We threw three carcasses 

 on to the sledges, so as to have a little extra food for 

 them on the way down. The Butcher's was not a very 



