fell, so that a little more would bring it into line with the crevasse, and then, of course, down it would go.  The dogs had quickly scented the fact that their lord and master was for the moment incapable of administering a “confirmation,” and they did not let slip the golden opportunity.  Like a lot of roaring tigers, the whole team set upon each other and fought till the hair flew.  This naturally produced short, sharp jerks at the traces, so that the sledge worked round more and more, and at the same time the dogs, in the heat of the combat, were coming nearer and nearer to the brink.  If this went on, all was irretrievably lost.  One of us jumped the crevasse, went into the middle of the struggling team, and, fortunately, got them to stop.  At the same time, Wisting threw a line to Hanssen and hauled him out of his unpleasant position —­ although, I thought to myself, as we went on:  I wonder whether Hanssen did not enjoy the situation?  Stretched across a giddy abyss, with the prospect of slipping down it at any moment —­ that was just what he would like.  We secured the sledge, completed our seventeen miles, and camped.

From 81deg.  S. we began to erect beacons at every nine kilometres.  The next day we observed the lowest temperature of the whole of this journey:  -30.1deg.  F The wind was south-south-east, but not very strong.  It did not feel like summer, all the same.  We now adopted the habit which we kept up all the way to the south —­ of taking our lunch while building the beacon that lay half-way in our day’s march.  It was nothing very luxurious —­ three or four dry oatmeal biscuits, that was all.  If one wanted a drink, one could mix snow with the biscuit —­ “bread and water.”  It is a diet that is not much sought after in our native latitudes, but latitude makes a very great difference in this world.  It anybody had offered us more “bread and water,” we should gladly have accepted it.

That day we crossed the last crevasse for a long time to come, and it was only a few inches wide.  The surface looked grand ahead of us; it went in very long, almost imperceptible undulations.  We could only notice them by the way in which the beacons we put up often disappeared rather rapidly.

On November 2 we had a gale from the south, with heavy snow.  The going was very stiff, but the dogs got the sledges along better than we expected.  The temperature rose, as usual, with a wind from this quarter:  +14deg.  F. It was a pleasure to be out in such a temperature, although it did blow a little.  The day after we had a light breeze from the north.  The heavy going of the day before had completely disappeared; instead of it we had the best surface one could desire, and it made our dogs break into a brisk gallop.  That was the day we were to reach the depot in 82deg.  S., but as it was extremely thick, our chances of doing so were small.  In the course of the afternoon the distance was accomplished, but no depot was visible.  However, our range of vision was nothing to boast of —­ ten sledge-lengths; not more.  The most sensible thing to do, under the circumstances, was to camp and wait till it cleared.