CHAPTER XVI. 



SEVENTEENTH OF MAT A DISTUEBED NIGHT. 



ALL our spare time the last few days had been devoted to thinking 

 how we should keep the Seventeenth of May. The camp was 

 decorated with flags, and as far as that was concerned, things were 

 well enough ; but it was the wretched food question which we could 

 not make up our minds about. Olsen had presented Schei with a 

 tin of fruit, and this it was in particular which harassed us. How 

 were we to make the most of it ? After racking our brains for 

 some time, we settled on a pancake, the fruit to be eaten with it, 

 and, to end up with, a cup of very strong coffee. 



It was the first time we had made a pancake on a sledge- 

 journey, and it would scarcely be correct to say we did it then. 

 The ingredients were all right ; egg-powder, flour, and sugar, but 

 we could not get them to bind ; and as for turning the mass, it was 

 an impossibility. We had to scrape round it instead to prevent 

 the whole thing from burning. When the pancake was ready it 

 looked more like a kind of thick porridge than anything else ; 

 but no matter, it tasted excellent, and that was the chief thing ; 

 and we ourselves were proud of our cookery. 



We had no brandy, but we quenched our thirst with strong 

 coffee, and our spirits rose to great heights, not the less so because 

 the weather was so enchantingly beautiful a great addition to an 

 entertainment of the kind. The snow round the tent was so hard 

 that, in the lovely mild evening, we could walk about on it in our 

 over-socks. 



We chatted and enjoyed the glorious evening, and it was 

 late before we remembered that it was time to go to rest. Our 

 preparations for that were not extensive. We no longer lay 



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