SECOND AUTUMN IN THE ICE 55 1 



no ! but in these nights such longing can come over 

 one for all beauty, for that which is contained in a sin- 

 gle word, and the soul flees from this interminable and 

 rigid world of ice. When one thinks how short life 

 is, and that one came away from it all of one's own 

 free will, and remembers, too, that another is suffering 

 the pain of constant anxiety — ' true, true till death.' ' O 

 mankind, thy ways are passing strange ! We are but as 

 flakes of foam, helplessly driven over the tossing sea.' 



"Wednesday, October loth. Exactly ^y-i^ years old, 

 then. There is nothing to be said to that, except that 

 life is moving on, and will never turn back. They 

 have all been touchingly nice to me to-day, and we have 

 held fete. They surprised me in the morning by hav- 

 ing the saloon ornamented with flags. They had hung 

 the ' Union ' above Sverdrup's place.* We accused 

 Amundsen of having done this, but he would not con- 

 fess to it. Above my door and on over Hansen's they 

 had the pennant with Fram in big letters. It looked most 

 festive when I came into the saloon, and they all stood 

 up and wished me ' Many happy returns.' When I went 

 on deck the flag was waving from the mizzenmast-head. 



" We took a snow-shoeing excursion south in the 

 morning. It was windy, bitter weather; I have not felt 

 so cold for long. The thermometer is down to 24° Fahr. 

 below zezo (—31° C.) this evening; this is certainly 



* An allusion, no doubt, to his political opinions ( Trans.). 



