HOMEWARD ! 449 



the ' Heimdal ' had offered any of the members of the expedition 

 who might wish it quarters on his ship. There is not very much 

 accommodation on the ' Fram,' and as we had added to the crew in 

 Stavanger, there was now still less room. We therefore arranged 

 that all the sea-folk should remain on board the ' Frarn/ and the 

 others, among them my wife and myself, move to the ' Heimdal.' 



Off Obrestad light, on Jaederen, the wind was dead against us, 

 and we had to turn back and go in to Eisviken, where we were 

 weatherbound for a couple of days. But by that time wind and 

 weather had finished their agitation, and left anything more in 

 that way to be done by ourselves and our countrymen in the 

 affecting moments of reunion. 



On Friday, September 26, we put in to Christiansand, where we 

 were given a dinner and ball, and on the Saturday evening Colin 

 Archer was fetched on board from Larvik. On Sunday morning 

 we anchored at Langgrunden, off Horten, for an hour or two, 

 and waited for some friends and acquaintances. Later on the 

 Norwegian Government came on board the ' Heimdal ; ' farther 

 in we went on to another man-of-war, and from that to the ice- 

 breaker 'Isbjorn,' belonging to the Municipality of Christiania, 

 on which we were received by the municipal authorities. 



We had been met by quite a fleet of steamers and sailing-boats 

 as far out as Horten, and the ' Fram's ' triumphal procession from 

 Stavanger to Christiania ended on a beautiful autumn Sunday 

 which recalled to us the days, four years since, when we had gone 

 the other way. What a difference between then and now ! Yet 

 how near each other these days appeared to us ! It was as if the 

 frost and ice of the polar night melted away before all this warmth 

 of heart which flowed to greet us in the welcome of our country- 

 men ; as if the remembrance of the four long years, with all their 

 toil, was buried under the sweet-smelling flowers which were 

 showered over us as we drove through the streets of Christiania ; 

 as if all the waving flags could waft away the furrows the winter 

 had brought us. 



So the ' Fram's ' Second Polar Expedition was at an end. 



An approximate area of one hundred thousand square miles 



VOL. II. 2 G 



