566 FARTHEST NORTH 



made into pancakes for dinner. It was remarkable how 

 entirely I had got out of training- for climbing in precipi- 

 tous places. I well remember that the first time I went 

 u]) the moraine with Jackson I had to stop and take 

 breath every hundred paces or so. This was, no doubt, 

 due to our long inactivity; perhaps, too, I had become 

 somewhat anaemic during the winter in our lair. But 

 there was more than that in it; the very height and steep- 

 ness made me uneasy; I was inclined to turn dizzy, and 

 had great difficulty in coming down again, preferring, if 

 possible, simply to sit down and slide. After a while 

 this passed off a little, and I became more accustomed to 

 the heiofhts aoain. I also became less short-winded, and 

 at last I could climb almost like a normal human being. 

 In the meantime the days wore on, and still we saw 

 nothing of the Windzuard. Johansen and I began to 

 get a little impatient. We discussed the possibility that 

 the ship might not make its way through the ice, and 

 that we should have to winter here, after all. This 

 idea was not particularly attractive to us — to be so near 

 home and yet not to reach home. We regretted that 

 we had not at once pushed on for Spitzbergen ; per- 

 haps we should by this time have reached the much- 

 talked-of sloop. When we came to think of it, why on 

 earth had we stopped here .-^ That was easily explained. 

 These people were so kind and hospitable to us that 

 it would have been more than Spartan had we been 

 able to resist their amiability. And then we had gone 



