96 NEW LAND. 



was not many minutes covering that mile, and fetching assistance 

 from the ship. 



As soon as I heard what had happened, off I ran ; while 

 Isachsen and Baumann harnessed a team, got out a bag, and 

 drove after me. The mate and Fosheim also came running after 

 me. I got on to the doctor's tracks and followed them, to be quite 

 certain of finding my way, and soon came across Olsen, sitting on 

 a hummock, and so done up that he did not recognize any of us. 

 He was stuffed into the bag at once, laid on the sledge, and driven 

 aboard at a gallop. There we put him into his berth, poured some 

 hot chocolate into him, and gave him a little to eat. He began to 

 recover in an incredibly short space of time, and it was not very 

 long before he had lighted his pipe. We knew then that he 

 was in a fair way, and the next day he was almost himself again. 

 Curiously enough, he was not frost-bitten. 



By degrees the twilight became stronger, and in the middle of 

 February we saw the first flush of the sun above the mountains 

 round us. It was like drinking in life with our eyes ; and it was 

 like growing twenty years younger, when the first clear sunbeams 

 gilded the slopes, and the sun stood above the crest of the mountains 

 for the first time. Every man came upon deck beaming with 

 delight. Our task was easy now ; now it would take much to 

 thwart the will or break the spirit, for we were in touch with life 

 again. The same sunbeams that played upon us played upon our 

 dear ones at home : it was as if a wave-signal had flashed between 

 us and them. 



