At one o’clock on the following morning we were out again.  The sight that met our eyes that morning, when we came out of the tent, was one of those that will always live in our memories.  The tent stood in the narrow gap between Fridtjof Nansen and Ole Engelstad.  The sun, which now stood in the south, was completely hidden by the latter mountain, and our camp was thus in the deepest shadow; but right against us on the other side the Nansen mountain raised its splendid ice-clad summit high towards heaven, gleaming and sparkling in the rays of the midnight sun.  The shining white passed gradually, very gradually, into pale blue, then deeper and deeper blue, until the shadow swallowed it up.  But down below, right on the Heiberg Glacier, its ice-covered side was exposed —­ dark and solemn the mountain mass stood out.  Mount Engelstad lay in shadow, but on its summit rested a beautiful light little cirrus cloud, red with an edge of gold.  Down over its side the blocks of ice lay scattered pell-mell.  And farther down on the east rose Don Pedro Christophersen, partly in shadow, partly gleaming in the sun —­ a marvellously beautiful sight.  And all was so still; one almost feared to disturb the incomparable splendour of the scene.

We now knew the ground well enough to be able to go straight ahead without any detours.  The huge avalanches were more frequent than on the outward journey.  One mass of snow after another plunged down; Don Pedro was getting rid of his winter coat.  The going was precisely the same —­ loose, fairly deep snow.  We went quite easily over it, however, and it was all downhill.  On the ridge where the descent to the glacier began we halted to make our preparations.  Brakes were put under the sledges, and our two ski-sticks were fastened together to make one strong one; we should have to be able to stop instantly if surprised by a crevasse as we were going.  We ski-runners went in front.  The going was ideal here on the steep slope, just enough loose snow to give one good steering on ski.  We went whizzing down, and it was not many minutes before we were on the Heiberg Glacier.  For the drivers it was not quite such plain sailing:  they followed our tracks, but had to be extremely careful on the steep fall.

We camped that evening on the selfsame spot where we had had our tent on November 18, at about 3,100 feet above the sea.  From here one could see the course of the Axel Heiberg Glacier right down to its junction with the Barrier.  It looked fine and even, and we decided to follow it instead of climbing over the mountain, as we had done on the way south.  Perhaps the distance would be somewhat longer, but probably we should make a considerable saving of time.  We had now agreed upon a new arrangement of our time; the long spells of rest were becoming almost unbearable.  Another very important side of the question was that, by a reasonable arrangement, we should be able to save a lot of time, and reach home several days sooner