BJORNEBORG. 



329 



all to completion, and the last few weeks on board the ' Fram ' had 

 not been easy ones. I was longing to get off, and make a trial of 

 ourselves and of the equipment. It was my firm belief that we 

 had good reason to be proud of the material at our disposal ; we 

 had, one and all, unwavering faith in it, and hoped to obtain good 

 results if, tolerably scatheless and without smashing our sledges too 

 much to pieces, we could only fight our way through the strait in 

 the west. We had long surmised that there lay before us a struggle 

 which might be harder than any of us could form an idea of. 



HASSEL LASHES THE LOAD. 



During our absence Simmons was going to take up his quarters 

 aft, Isachsen having lent him his cabin while we were away. To 

 the after-cabin, therefore, all the instruments were moved ; first 

 and foremost the chronometer, of which Simmons had promised to 

 take charge. The reason for this was that I thought it unnecessary 

 to warm two such large rooms as our fore- and after-cabins when 

 there were not more than four men left on board ; there was 

 plenty of room for them aft. 



There were now only three men left on the ship to look 

 after the tide gauging and meteorological observations. 



