FAREWELL TO NORWAY 133 



musical entertainment than we desired. By evening the 

 hour had come. We got up steam — everything was 

 ready. But such a thick fog had set in that we could 

 not see the land. Now came the moment when our last 

 friend, Christofersen, was to leave the ship. We sup- 

 plied him with the barest sufficiency of provisions and 

 some Ringnes's ale. While this was being done, last 

 lines were added in feverish eagerness to the letters 

 home. Then came a last hand-clasp ; Christofersen and 

 Trontheim got into the boat, and had soon disappeared 

 in the fog. With them went our last post; our last link 

 with home was broken. We were alone in the mist on 

 the sea. It was not likely that any message from us 

 would reach the world before we ourselves brought the 

 news of our success or defeat. How much anxiety were 

 those at home to suffer between now and then ! It is 

 true we might possibly be able to send letters home from 

 the mouth of the Olenek, where, according to the agree- 

 ment with Baron Toll, we were to call in for another 

 supply of dogs; but I did not consider this probable. It 

 was far on in the summer, and I had an instinctive feel- 

 ing that the state of the ice was not so favorable as I 

 could have wished it to be. 



trontheim's narrative 



Alexander Ivanovitch Trontheim has himself given 

 an account, in the Tobolsk official newspaper, of his long 



