Our old enemy the fog had made its appearance in the course of the night, and now hung, grey and disgusting, under the sky, when we broke camp at the depot on the morning of November 13.  However, it was not so bad as to prevent our following the flags that marked the depot on the east.

My duty as forerunner was immediately found to be considerably lighter than before.  With the greatly increased weight behind them the dogs had all they could do to follow, if I went at an ordinary walking pace.  At 11 a.m. we passed the easternmost flag, at five geographical miles from the depot, and then we found ourselves on untrodden ground.  A light southerly breeze appeared very opportunely and swept away the fog; the sun again shed its light over the Barrier, which lay before us, shining and level, as we had been accustomed to see it.  There was, however, one difference:  with every mile we covered there was the possibility of seeing something new.  The going was excellent, although the surface was rather looser than one could have wished.  The ski flew over it finely, of course, while dogs’ feet and sledge-runners sank in.  I hope I shall never have to go here without ski; that would be a terrible punishment; but with ski on one’s feet and in such weather it was pure enjoyment.

Meanwhile the new sights we expected were slow in coming.  We marched for four days due east without seeing a sign of change in the ground; there was the same undulating surface that we knew so well from previous expeditions.  The readings of the hypsometer gave practically the same result day after day; the ascent we were looking for failed to appear.

Stubberud, who for the first day or two after leaving the depot had been constantly stretching himself on tiptoe and looking out for mountain-tops, finally gave it as his heartfelt conviction that this King Edward Land we were hunting for was only a confounded “Flyaway Land,” which had nothing to do with reality.  We others were not yet quite prepared to share this view; for my own part, in any case, I was loth to give up the theory that assumed a southward continuation of King Edward Land along the 158th meridian; this theory had acquired a certain force during the winter, and was mainly supported by the fact that on the second depot journey we had seen, between the 81st and 82nd parallels, some big pressure-ridges, which suggested the presence of bare land in a south-easterly direction.

On November 16 we found ourselves at the 158th meridian, but on every side the eye encountered the level, uninterrupted snow surface and nothing else.  Should we go on?  It was tempting enough, as the probability was that sooner or later we should come upon something; but there was a point in our instructions that had to be followed, and it said:  Go to the point where land is marked on the chart.  This point was now about 120 geographical miles to the north of us.  Therefore, instead of going on to the east in uncertainty, we decided to turn to the left and go north.  The position of the spot where we altered our course was determined, and it was marked by a snow beacon 7 feet high, on the top of which was placed a tin box containing a brief report.