528 FARTHEST NORTH 



report out in the galley, and said at once that it sounded 

 like an explosion. Presently Pettersen* stuck a head in 

 at the door as black as a sweep s, great lumps of soot 

 all over it, and said that the stove had exploded right 

 into his face ; he was only going to look if it was burn- 

 ing rightly, and the whole fiendish thing flew out at him. 

 A stream of words not unmingled with oaths flowed 

 like peas out of a sack, while the rest of us yelled with 

 laughter. In the galley it was easy to see that something 

 had happened ; the walls were covered with soot in lumps 

 and stripes pointing towards the fireplace. The explana- 

 tion of the accident was simple enough. The draught 

 had been insufificient, and a quantity of gas had formed 

 which had not been able to burn until air was let in by 

 Pettersen opening the door. 



" This is a oood besiinnins:. I told Pettersen in the 

 evening that I would do the cooking myself next day, 

 when the real trial was to be made. But he would not 

 hear of such a thing; he said ' I was not to think that he 

 minded a trifle like that; I might trust to its being all 

 right' — and it ivas all right. From that day I heard 

 nothing but praise of the new apparatus, and it was used 

 until the Frain was out in the open sea again. 



"Thursday, September 6th. 8i' 13.7' north latitude. 

 Have I been married five years to-day? Last year this 

 was a day of victory — when the ice -fetters burst at 



* Pettersen had been adv^anced from smith to cook, and he and Juell 

 took turns of a fortnight each in the galley. 



