282 THE VOYAGE OF THE " FRAJNI " 



glad to get off. As our departure had not been 

 made public, only the pilot and a few acquaintances 

 accompanied us a little way out. It was glorious 

 weather, and everyone stayed on deck till far into the 

 light night, watching the land slowly disappear. All 

 the ninety-seven dogs were chained round the deck, on 

 which we also had coal, oil, timber and other things, so 

 that there was not much room to move about. 



The rest of the vessel was absolutely full. To take an 

 example, in the fore-saloon we had placed forty-three 

 sledging cases, which were filled with books, Christmas 

 presents, underclothing, and the like. In addition to 

 these, one hundred complete sets of dog-harness, all our 

 ski, ski-poles, snow-shoes, etc. Smaller articles were 

 stowed in the cabins, and every man had something. 

 When I complained, as happened pretty often, that 

 I could not imagine where this or that was to be put, 

 the Chief of the expedition used generally to say: " Oh, 

 that's all right; you can just put it in your cabin!" 

 Thus it was with every imaginable thing — from barrels 

 of paraffin and new-born pups to writing materials and 

 charts. 



As the story of this voyage has already been told, 

 it may be rapidly passed over here. After much delay 

 through headwinds in the Channel, we picked up the 

 north-east trade in about the latitude of Gibraltar, and 

 arrived at Madeira on September 6. 



At 9 p.m. on September 9 we weighed anchor for the 



