IV£ SAV GOOD-BYE TO THE '' FRAM'' 149 



thanks or even so much as a kind word, daily writhing 

 under the lash until the time came when they could do 

 no more and death freed them from their pangs — when 

 I think of how they were left behind, one by one, up 

 there on those desolate ice-fields, which had been witness 

 to their faithfulness and devotion, I have moments of 

 bitter self-reproach. It took us two alone such a long 

 time to pitch the tent, feed the dogs, cook, etc., in the 

 evening, and then break up again and get ready in the 

 morning, that the days never seemed long enough if we 

 were to do proper day s marches, and, besides, get the 

 sleep we required at night. But when the nights became 

 so light, it was not so necessary to keep regular hours 

 any longer, and we started when we pleased, whether it 

 was night or day. We stopped, too, when it suited us, 

 and took the sleep which might be necessary for our- 

 selves and the clogs. I tried to make it a rule that our 

 marches were to be of nine or ten hours' duration. In 

 the middle of the day we generally had a rest and 

 something to eat — as a rule, bread-and-butter, with a 

 little pemmican or liver pate. These dinners were a 

 bitter trial. We use to try and find a good sheltered 

 place, and sometimes even rolled ourselves up in our 

 blankets, but all the same the wind cut riorht throuoh us 

 as we sat on the sledges eating our meal. Sometimes, 

 again, we spread the sleeping-bag out on the ice, took 

 our food with us, and crept well in, but even then did 

 not succeed in thawing either it or our clothes. When 



