538 FARTHEST NORTH 



" Life goes its regular, even, uneventful way, quiet as 

 the ice kself ; and yet it is wonderful how quickly the 

 time passes. The equinox has come, the nights are be- 

 ginning to turn dark, and at noon the sun is only 9 de- 

 grees above the horizon. I pass the day busily here in 

 the work cabin, and often feel as if I were sitting in my 

 study at home, with all the comforts of civilization round 

 me. If it were not for the separation, one could be as 

 well off here as there. Sometimes I forget where I am. 

 Not infrequently in the evening, when I have been sitting 

 absorbed in work, I have jumped up to listen when the 

 dogs barked, thinking to myself, who can be coming.'^ 

 Then I remember that I am not at home, but drifting out 

 in the middle of the frozen Polar Sea, at the commence- 

 ment of the second long Arctic night. 



"The temperature has been down to 1.4° Fahr. be- 

 low zero (—17 C.) to-day; winter is coming on fast. 

 There is little drift just now, and yet we are in good 

 spirits. It was the same last autumn equinox ; but how 

 many disappointments we have had since then ! How 

 terrible it was in the later autumn when every calcu- 

 lation seemed to fail, as we drifted farther and farther 

 south ! Not one bright spot on our horizon ! But such 

 a time will never come again. There may still be great 

 relapses ; there may be slow progress for a time ; but 

 there is no doubt as to the future; we see it dawning 

 bright in the west, beyond the Arctic night. 



" Sunday, September 23d. It was a year yesterday 



