It was practically impossible to keep one’s eyes open; the fine drift-snow penetrated everywhere, and at times one had a feeling of being blind.  The tent was not only drifted up, but covered with ice, and in taking it down we had to handle it with care. so as not to break it in pieces.  The dogs were not much inclined to start, and it took time to get them into their harness, but at last we were ready.  One more glance over the camping-ground to see that nothing we ought to have with us had been forgotten.  The fourteen dogs’ carcasses that were left were piled up in a heap, and Hassel’s sledge was set up against it as a mark.  The spare sets of dog-harness, some Alpine ropes, and all our crampons for ice-work, which we now thought would not be required, were left behind.  The last thing to be done was planting a broken ski upright by the side of the depot.  It was Wisting who did this, thinking, presumably, that an extra mark would do no harm.  That it was a happy thought the future will show.

And then we were off:  It was a hard pull to begin with, both for men and beasts, as the high sastrugi continued towards the south, and made it extremely difficult to advance.  Those who had sledges to drive had to be very attentive, and support them so that they did not capsize on the big waves, and we who had no sledges found great difficulty in keeping our feet, as we had nothing to lean against.  We went on like this, slowly enough, but the main thing was that we made progress.  The ground at first gave one the impression of rising, though not much.  The going was extremely heavy; it was like dragging oneself through sand.  Meanwhile the sastrugi grew smaller and smaller, and finally they disappeared altogether, and the surface became quite flat.  The going also improved by degrees, for what reason it is difficult to say, as the storm continued unabated, and the drift —­ now combined with falling snow —­ was thicker than ever.  It was all the driver could do to see his own dogs.  The surface, which had become perfectly level, had the appearance at times of sinking; in any case, one would have thought so from the pace of the sledges.  Now and again the dogs would set off suddenly at a gallop.  The wind aft, no doubt, helped the pace somewhat, but it alone could not account for the change.

I did not like this tendency of the ground to fall away.  In my opinion, we ought to have done with anything of that sort after reaching the height at which we were; a slight slope upward, possibly, but down —­ no, that did not agree with my reckoning.  So far the incline had not been so great as to cause uneasiness, but if it seriously began to go downhill, we should have to stop and camp.  To run down at full gallop, blindly and in complete ignorance of the ground, would be madness.  We might risk falling into some chasm before we had time to pull up.