By the evening of February 21 we were again ready to start.  The sledges —­ seven in number —­ stood ready packed, and were quite imposing in appearance.  Tempted by the favourable outcome of our former trip, we put too much on our sledges this time —­ on some of them, in any case.  Mine was overloaded.  I had to suffer for it afterwards —­ or, rather, my noble animals did.

On February 22, at 8.30 a.m., the caravan moved off —­ eight men, seven sledges, and forty-two dogs —­ and the most toilsome part of our whole expedition began.  As usual, we began well from Framheim.  Lindstrom, who was to stay at home alone and look after things, did not stand and wave farewells to us.  Beaming with joy, he made for the hut as soon as the last sledge was in motion.  He was visibly relieved.  But I knew very well that before long he would begin to take little turns outside to watch the ridge.  Would they soon be coming?

There was a light breeze from the south, dead against us, and the sky was overcast.  Newly fallen snow made the going heavy, and the dogs had hard work with their loads.  Our former tracks were no longer visible, but we were lucky enough to find the first flag, which stood eleven miles inland.  From there we followed the dried fish, which stood out sharply against the white snow and were very easy to see.  We pitched our camp at six o’clock in the evening, having come a distance of seventeen miles.  Our camp was quite imposing —­ four tents for three men apiece, with two in each.  In two of them the housekeeping arrangements were carried on.  The weather had improved during the afternoon, and by evening we had the most brilliantly clear sky.

Next day the going was even heavier, and the dogs were severely tried.  W e did no more than twelve and a half miles after eight hours’ march.  The temperature remained reasonable, +5deg.  F. We had lost our dried fish, and for the last few hours were going only by compass.

February 24 began badly —­ a strong wind from the south-east, with thick driving snow.  We could see nothing, and had to steer our course by compass.  It was bitter going against the wind, although the temperature was no worse than -0.4deg.  F. We went all day without seeing any mark.  The snow stopped falling about noon, and at three o’clock it cleared.  As we were looking about for a place to pitch the tents, we caught sight of one of our flags.  When we reached it, we found it was flag No. 5 —­ all our bamboos were numbered, so we knew the exact position of the flag.  No. 5 was forty-four and a half miles from Framheim.  This agreed well with the distance recorded —­ forty-four miles.

The next day was calm and clear, and the temperature began to descend, -13deg.  F. But in spite of this lower temperature the air felt considerably milder, as it was quite still.  We followed marks and fish the whole way, and at the end of our day’s journey we had covered eighteen miles —­ a good distance for heavy going.