FAREWELL TO NORWAY 109 



surprises that the Arctic Sea has more than enough of. 

 I dressed and was uid in the crow's-nest in a twinkhno-. 

 The ice lay extended everywhere, as far as the eye could 

 reach through the fog, which had lifted a little. There 

 was no small quantity of ice, but it was tolerably open, 

 and there was nothing for it but to be true to our watch- 

 word and "gci fram" — push onward. For a good while 

 we picked our way. But now^ it began to lie closer, with 

 large floes every here and there, and at the same time 

 the fog grew denser, and we could not see our way at 

 all. To go ahead in difificult ice and in a fog is not very 

 prudent, for it is impossible to tell just where you are 

 going, and you are apt to be set fast before you know 

 where you are. So we had to stop and wait. But still 

 the fog grew ever denser, while the ice did the same. 

 Our hopes meanwhile rose and fell, but mostly the latter, 

 I think. To encounter so much ice already in these 

 waters, where at this time of year the sea is, as a rule, 

 quite free from it, boded anything but good. Already 

 at Tromso and Vardo we had heard bad news ; the 

 White Sea, they said, had only been clear of ice a very 

 short time, and a boat that had tried to reach Yugor 

 Strait had had to turn back because of the ice. Neither 

 were our anticipations of the Kara Sea altogether cheer- 

 ful. What might we not expect there ? For the Urania, 

 with our coals, too, this ice was a bad business; for it would 

 be unable to make its way through unless it had found 

 navigable water farther south along the Russian coast. 



