At this time we could not count with certainty on the possibility of all those who made the southern journey reaching latitude 90deg..  On the contrary, we had to be prepared for the probability of some of the party being obliged to turn back.  It was intended that we should use the tent in question, in case it might be decided to let two or three men make the final dash, and therefore it was made as small and light as possible.  Fortunately we had no need to use it, as every man reached the goal; and we then found that the best way of disposing of Ronne’s work of art was to let it stay there as a mark.

Our sailmaker had no dogs of his own to look after; he had no time for that.  On the other hand, he often assisted me in attending to my fourteen friends up on the bridge; but he seemed to have some difficulty in getting on terms of familiarity with the dogs and all that belonged to them.  It did not quite agree with his idea of life on board ship to have a deck swarming with dogs.  He regarded this abnormal state of things with a sort of scornful compassion.  “So you carry dogs, too, aboard this ship,” he would say, every time he came on deck and found himself face to face with the “brutes.”  The poor brutes, I am sure, made no attempt to attack Ronne’s person more than anyone else’s, but he seemed for a long time to have great doubts about it.  I don’t think he felt perfectly safe until the dogs had been muzzled.

A part of our equipment to which we gave special care was, of course, the ski; in all probability they would be our chief weapon in the coming fight.  However much we might have to learn from Scott’s and Shackleton’s narratives, it was difficult for us to understand their statements that the use of ski on the Barrier was not a success.  From the descriptions that were given of the nature of the surface and the general conditions, we were forced to the opposite conclusion, that ski were the only means to employ.  Nothing was spared to provide a good skiing outfit, and we had an experienced man in charge of it —­ Olav Bjaaland.  It is sufficient to mention his name.  When, on leaving Norway, it was a question of finding a good place for our twenty pairs of ski, we found we should have to share our own quarters with them; they were all disposed under the ceiling of the fore-cabin.  At any rate, we had no better place to put them.  Bjaaland, who during the last month or two had tried his hand at the unaccustomed work of a seaman, went back to his old trade of ski-maker and carpenter when we came into the trade-winds.  Both ski and bindings were delivered ready for use by Hagen and Co., of Christiania; it remained to adapt them, and fit the backstraps to each man’s boots, so that all might be ready for use on arrival at the Barrier.  A full skiing outfit had been provided for every man, so that those who were to be left on board might also have a run now and then during their stay at the ice edge.