September came, with -43.6deg.  F. That is a temperature that one can always stand, but we had better wait and see what it is going to do; perhaps it will only play its old tricks again.  Next day, -63.4deg.  F.; calm and clear.  September 6, -20.2deg.  F. At last the change had come, and we thought it was high time.  Next day, -7.6deg.  F. The little slant of wind that came from the east felt quite like a mild spring breeze.  Well, at any rate, we now had a good temperature to start in.  Every man ready; to-morrow we are off.

September 8 arrived.  We turned out as usual, had breakfast, and were then on the move.  We had not much to do.  The empty sledges we were to use for driving up to the starting-point were ready; we only had to throw a few things on to them.  But it turned out that the mere fact of having so few things was the cause of its taking a long time.  We were to harness twelve dogs to the empty sledges, and we had an idea that it would cost us a struggle to get away.  We helped each other, two and two, to bring the dogs to the sledges and harness them.  Those who were really careful had anchored their sledges to a peg firmly fixed in the snow; others had contented themselves with capsizing their sledges; and others, again, were even more reckless.  We all had to be ready before the first man could start; otherwise, it would have been impossible for those who were behind to hold in their dogs, and the result would have been a false start.

Our dogs were in a fearful state of excitement and confusion that morning, but at last everything was ready, barring one or two trifles.  Then I suddenly heard a wild yell, and, spinning round, I saw a team tearing off without a driver.  The next driver rushed forward to help, with the result that his dogs made off after the others.  The two sledges were on ahead, and the two drivers after them in full gallop; but the odds were too unequal —­ in a few moments the drivers were beaten.  The two runaway teams had made off in a south-westerly direction, and were going like the wind.  The men had hard work; they had long ago stopped running, and were now following in the tracks of the sledges.  The dogs had disappeared behind the ridges, which the men did not reach till much later.

Meanwhile the rest of us waited.  The question was, what would those two do when at last they had come up with their sledges?  Would they turn and go home, or would they drive up to the starting-point?  Waiting was no fun under any circumstances, and so we decided to go on to the starting-point, and, if necessary, wait there.  No sooner said than done, and away we went.  Now we should see what command the fellows had over their dogs, for, in all canine probability, these teams would now try to follow the same course that the runaways had taken.  This fear turned out not to be groundless; three managed to turn their dogs and put them in the right direction, but the other two were off on the new course.  Afterwards, of course, they tried to make out that they thought we were all going that way.  I smiled, but said nothing.  It had happened more than once that my own dogs had taken charge; no doubt I had felt rather foolish at the time, but after all ....