IV£ MAKE A START 99 



cheers, accompanied by the cracking of wliips and the 

 barking of dogs. At the same time a salute was fired 

 from the quarter-deck, shot after shot, into the whirHno- 

 drift. The sledges moved heavily forward ; it was slow 

 travelling uphill, and they came to a dead stop where 

 the ascent was too steep, and we all had to help them 

 along — one man alone could not do it ; but over level 

 ground we flew along like a whirlwind, and those on 

 snow-shoes found it difficult enough to keep pace with 

 the sledges. I had to strike out as best I could when 

 they came up to me to avoid getting my legs entangled 

 in the line. A man is beckoning with his staff far in 

 the rear. It is Mogstad, who comes tearing along and 

 shouting that three ' floitstokker ' * (crossbars) had been 

 torn off a sledo^e in drivino-. The sledoe, with its heavv 

 load, had lurched forward over an upright piece of ice, 

 which struck the crossbars, breaking all three of them, 

 one after the other; one or two of the perpendicular 

 supports of the runners were also smashed. There was 

 nothing for it but to return to the ship to get it repaired 

 and have the sledges made strong^er. Such a thins: 



o o o 



ought not to happen again. During the return one of 

 the sledges lurched up against another, and a cane in the 

 bow snapped. The bows would, therefore, also have to 

 be made stronQ;er. t 



* The crossbars on the sledge that connect the perpendicular sup- 

 ports of the runners with each other. 



t The sledge runners were connected in front by a bow, consisting of 



