68 NEW LAND. 



in finding the camp. At last, however, we reached the stretch of 

 sand, though the tent was nowhere to be seen. We tramped 

 round and round for some time, until at last we saw a faint 

 light, which we knew must be from the oil-stove shining through 

 the canvas of the tent. A few minutes more and we heard the 

 well-known singing of the 'Primus,' and saw Schei lifting the 

 cooking-pot off it, and wrapping it up in his reindeer-skin 

 coat. 



The next day we had to get back to meet the men from 

 the ' Fram.' Instead of driving by way of Noresund, we set our 

 course straight across the peninsula, and, after a very tiring journey 

 in the deep and heavy snow, encamped in the evening in a valley 

 just opposite Fort Juliana. 



On Sunday morning our way lay across stony ground, with 

 deep loose snow on it, which made it almost impassable for the 

 dogs. We toiled through it, however, and got up at last; and 

 afterwards things went really very well, and we reached the fort 

 late in the afternoon, which was earlier than we expected ; but the 

 caravan from the ' Fram ' had not turned up. 



On Monday we stayed quiet and waited. Tuesday the same, 

 but nobody arrived. Then the dogs' food began to give out, and 

 we knew that this would likewise be the case, after the 16th, 

 with Bay and Isachsen, who were at Stenkjaer, in Beitstadfjord, also 

 waiting for the ' Fram ' folk. So we sent Fosheim up to Stenkjser 

 with what food we had, while Schei and I went down to the 

 'Fram' with Schei's dogs. It was under thirty-seven miles, 

 so we hoped to reach the ship that evening, but in this we 

 were disappointed. The dogs, which had been fed for some 

 time on Danish dog-biscuit, had no strength in them ; in fact, 

 were as good as useless ; while the going was so heavy that we 

 could hardly move the sledges, although we both put ourselves to 

 them, and hauled together with the dogs. We were, therefore, 

 obliged to halt on the west side of Alexandra Fjord and prepare 

 for a night under the open sky, without a tent, and without any- 

 thing to drink. But as we were groping about in the dusk among 

 the hummocks, we suddenly heard something which sounded like 

 the howling of dogs. We shouted back with all the strength of 



