white, and the possibility of getting dark ones was not very apparent.  It is true that we had a few yards of darkish " gabardine,” or light windproof material, which would have been extremely suitable for this purpose, but every yard of it had long ago been destined for some other use, so that did not get us out of the difficulty.  “But,” said somebody —­ and he had a very cunning air as he uttered that “but” —­ “but haven’t we got ink and ink-powder that we can dye our tents dark with?” Yes, of course!  We all smiled indulgently; the thing was so plain that it was almost silly to mention it, but all the same —­ the man was forgiven his silliness, and dye-works were established.  Wisting accepted the position of dyer, in addition to his other duties, and succeeded so well that before very long we had two dark blue tents instead of the white ones.

These looked very well, no doubt, freshly dyed as they were, but the question was, What would they look like after a couple of months’ use?  The general opinion was that they would probably, to a great extent, have reverted to their original colour —­ or lack of colour.  Some better patent had to be invented.  As we were sitting over our coffee after dinner one day, someone suddenly suggested:  “But look here —­ suppose we took our bunk —­ curtains and made an outer tent of them?” This time the smile that passed over the company, as they put down their cups, was almost compassionate.  Nothing was said, but the silence meant something like:  “Poor chap! —­ as if we hadn’t all thought of that long ago!” The proposal was adopted without discussion, and Wisting had another long job, in addition to all the rest.  Our bunk-curtains were dark red, and made of very light material; they were sewed together, curtain to curtain, and finally the whole was made into an outer tent.  The curtains only sufficed for one tent, but, remembering that half a loaf is better than no bread, we had to be satisfied with this.  The red tent, which was set up a few days after, met with unqualified approval; it would be visible some miles away in the snow.  Another important advantage was that it would protect and preserve the main tent.  Inside, the effect of the combination of red and blue was to give an agreeably dark shade.  Another question was how to protect the tent from a hundred loose dogs, who were no better behaved than others of their kind.  If the tent became stiff and brittle, it might be spoilt in a very short time.  And the demands we made on our tents were considerable; we expected them to last at least 120 days.  I therefore got Wisting to make two tent-protectors, or guards.  These guards consisted simply of a piece of gabardine long enough to stretch all round the tent, and to act as a fence in preventing the dogs from coming in direct contact with the tents.  The guards were made with loops, so that they could be stretched upon ski-poles.  They looked very fine when they were finished, but they never came to be used; for, as soon as we began the journey, we found a material that was even more suitable and always to be had —­ snow.  Idiots! —­ of course, we all knew that, only we wouldn’t say so.  Well, that was one against us.  However, the guards came in well as reserve material on the trip, and many were the uses they were put to.