Circumstances had arisen which made me consider it necessary to divide the party into two.  One party was to carry out the march to the south; the other was to try to reach King Edward VII.  Land, and see what was to be done there, besides exploring the region around the Bay of Whales.  This party was composed of Prestrud, Stubberud, and Johansen, under the leadership of the first-named.

The advantages of this new arrangement were many.  In the first place, a smaller party could advance more rapidly than a larger one.  Our numbers, both of men and dogs, on several of the previous trips had clearly shown the arrangement to be unfortunate.  The time we took to get ready in the morning —­ four hours —­ was one of the consequences of being a large party.  With half the number, or only one tent full, I hoped to be able to reduce this time by half.  The importance of the depots we had laid down was, of course, greatly increased, since they would now only have to support five members of the party originally contemplated, and would thus be able to furnish them with supplies for so much more time.  From a purely scientific point of view, the change offered such obvious advantages that it is unnecessary to insist upon them.  Henceforward, therefore, we worked, so to speak, in two parties.  The Polar party was to leave as soon as spring came in earnest.  I left it to Prestrud himself to fix the departure of the party he was to lead; there was no such hurry for them —­ they could take things more easily.

Then the same old fuss about the outfit began all over again, and the needles were busy the whole time.  Two days after our return, Wisting and Bjaaland went out to the thirty-kilometre mark with the object of bringing in the dogs that had been let loose on that part of the route and had not yet returned.  They made the trip of sixty kilometres (thirty-seven and a half miles) in six hours, and brought all the stragglers —­ ten of them —­ back with them.  The farthest of them were found lying by the flag; none of them showed a sign of getting up when the sledges came.  They had to be picked up and harnessed, and one or two that had sore feet were driven on the sledges.  In all probability most of them would have returned in a few days.  But it is incomprehensible that healthy, plucky dogs, as many of them were, should take it into their heads to stay behind like that.

On September 24 we had the first tidings of spring, when Bjaaland came back from the ice and told us he had shot a seal.  So the seals had begun to come up on to the ice; this was a good sign.  The next day we went out to bring it in, and we got another at the same time.  There was excitement among the dogs when they got fresh meat, to say nothing of fresh blubber.  Nor were we men inclined to say no to a fresh steak.

On September 27 we removed the roof that had covered over the window of our room.  We had to carry the light down through a long wooden channel, so that it was considerably reduced by the time it came in; but it was light —­ genuine daylight —­ and it was much appreciated.