THE THIRD SUMMER 701 



people, and just as the captain put his head out the Fram 

 passed close up on the weather-side of the vessel, and we 

 greeted her in passing with a thundering broadside from our star- 

 board cannon. We then turned round astern of her, and fired 

 another salute to leeward, after which "hostilities" were dis- 

 continued. No doubt it was a rather demonstrative way of 

 making ourselves known to our countrymen, who were lying 

 there so peacefully, drifting in the morning mist, and probably 

 thinking more of seals and whales than of the Fram. But we 

 trust that Captain Botolfsen and his crew will forgive us our 

 overflowing joy at this our first meeting with human beings 

 after three long years. 



The vessel was the galliot Sostrenc (The Sisters), of Tromso. 

 The first question which was shouted to him as w^e passed 

 alongside was this: "Have Nansen and Johansen arrived?" 

 We had hoped to receive a roaring "Yes," and were ready to 

 greet the answer with a thundering " Hurrah" and salute; but 

 the answer we got was short and sad "No." 



Captain Botolfsen and some of his crew came on board to us, 

 and had to go through a regular cross-fire of questions of every 

 conceivable kind. Such an examination they had certainly 

 never been subjected to, and probably never will be again. 



Among the many items of news which we received was one 

 to the effect that the Swedish aeronaut, Engineer Andree, had 

 arrived at Danes Island, intending to proceed thence by balloon 

 to discover the North Pole. 



Botolfsen came with us as a passenger, leaving his vessel in 

 charge of the mate, and accompanied us as far as Tromso. We 

 reshaped our course about noon for Red Bay, intending to 

 steam from there to Danes Island and see Mr. Andree. About 

 midnight we sighted land ahead, and supposed it to be the cape 

 immediately to the west of Red Bay. It was 1041 days since 

 we last saw land. 



We lay to for some time at this point, waiting for the fog to 

 clear away sufificiently to allow us to find the landmarks. As 

 it did not clear, we steamed slowly westward, taking frequent 

 soundings, and soon found ourselves, as we anticipated, right 



