THE WINTER NIGHT 375 



of the last two days' south wind ; something within me 

 says that we shall succeed. I laugh now at myself for 

 having been weak enough to doubt it. I can spend 

 hours staring into the light, dreaming of how, when we 

 land, I shall grope my way to the first telegraph station, 

 trembling with emotion and suspense. I write out tele- 

 o^ram after telesfram ; I ask the clerk if he can Q-ive me 

 any news from home. 



"Friday, January 19th. Splendid wind, with velocity 

 of 13 to 19 feet per second; we are going north at a 

 grand rate. The red, glowing twilight is now so bright 

 about midday that if we were in more southern latitudes 

 we should expect to see the sun rise bright and glorious 

 above the horizon in a few minutes; but we shall have to 

 wait a month yet for that. 



" Saturday, January 20th. I had about 600 pounds of 

 pemmican and 200 pounds of bread brought up from the 

 hold to-day and stowed on the forecastle. It is wrong 

 not to have some provisions on deck against any sudden 

 emergency, such as fire. 



"Sunday, January 21st. We took a long excursion 

 to the northwest; the ice in that direction, too, was tol- 

 erably flat. Sverdrup and I got on the top of a high- 

 pressure mound at some distance from here. It was in 

 the centre of what had been very violent packing, but, all 

 the same, the wall at its highest was not over 1 7 feet, and 

 this was one of the highest and biggest altogether that I 

 have seen yet. An altitude of the moon taken this even- 



