WE SAY GOOD-BYE TO THE '' FRAM'' 135 



of going with us till the next clay, but his heavy wolf- 

 skin trousers were, as he un-euphemistically expressed it, 

 " almost full of sweat, and he must s:o back to the fire 

 on board to get dry." Hansen, Henriksen, and Pettersen 

 were then the only ones left, and they labored along, 

 each with his load on his back. It was difficult for 

 them to keep up with us on the flat ice, so quickly did 

 we go; but when we came to pressure -ridges we were 

 brought to a standstill and the sledges had to be helped 

 over. At one place the ridge was so bad that we had 

 to carry the sledges a long way. When, after consider- 

 able trouble, we had managed to get over it, Peter shook 

 his head reflectively, and said to Johansen that we 

 should meet plenty more of the same kind, and have 

 enough hard work before we had eaten sufficient of the 

 loads to make the sledges run lightly. Just here we 

 came upon a long stretch of bad ice, and Peter became 

 more and more concerned for our future; but towards 

 evening matters improved, and we advanced more rap- 

 idly. When we stopped at 6 o'clock the odometer reg- 

 istered a good 7 miles, which was not so bad for a 

 first day's work. We had a cheerful evening in our 

 tent, which was just about big enough to hold all five. 

 Pettersen, who had exerted himself and become over- 

 heated on the way, shivered and groaned while the dogs 

 were being tied up and fed, and the tent pitched. He, 

 however, found existence considerably brighter when he 

 sat inside it, in his warm wolfskin clothes, with a pot 



