and dark, and blotted out the view.  We knew now that we had to be prepared for surprises.  After we had gone about ten miles the fog again lifted for a moment, and we saw quite near —­ a mile or so away —­ two long, narrow mountain ridges to the west of us, running north and south, and completely covered with snow.  These —­ Helland Hansen’s Mountains —­ were the only ones we saw on our right hand during the march on the plateau; they were between 9,000 and 10,000 feet high, and would probably serve as excellent landmarks on the return journey.  There was no connection to be traced between these mountains and those lying to the east of them; they gave us the impression of being entirely isolated summits, as we could not make out any lofty ridge running east and west.  We continued our course in the constant expectation of finding some surprise or other in our line of route.  The air ahead of us was as black as pitch, as though it concealed something.  It could not be a storm, or it would have been already upon us.  But we went on and on, and nothing came.  Our day’s march was eighteen and a half miles.

I see that my diary for November 28 does not begin very promisingly:  “Fog, fog —­ and again fog.  Also fine falling snow, which makes the going impossible.  Poor beasts, they have toiled hard to get the sledges forward to-day.”  But the day did not turn out so badly after all, as we worked our way out of this uncertainty and found out what was behind the pitch-dark clouds.  During the forenoon the sun came through and thrust aside the fog for a while; and there, to the south-east, not many miles away, lay an immense mountain mass.  From this mass, right across our course, ran a great, ancient glacier; the sun shone down upon it and showed us a surface full of huge irregularities.  On the side nearest to the mountain these disturbances were such that a hasty glance was enough to show us the impossibility of advancing that way.  But right in our line of route —­ straight on to the glacier —­ it looked, as far as we could see, as though we could get along.  The fog came and went, and we had to take advantage of the clear intervals to get our bearings.  It would, no doubt, have been better if we could have halted, set up our tent, and waited for decently clear weather, so that we might survey the ground at our ease and choose the best way.  Going forward without an idea of what the ground was like, was not very pleasant.  But how long should we have to wait for clear weather?  That question was unanswerable; possibly a week, or even a fortnight, and we had no time for that.  Better go straight on, then, and take what might come.