The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-04-16
had with those eight dogs that day!

II 1t was going to be like this on the
way to the Pole l calculated. In the
midst OF the tunlult that it would take
exactly a year to get there, without
all this confusion I stole another
glance at the ship, but the sight that
met me made me quickly withdraw my
eyes again. They were simply Shrek
ing with laughter. and loud shouts of
he o infamous announcement
reached me. If you 60 on like that
you'll get there by Christmas or.
Well done! stick to it. Now you're
off, We were stuck faster than ever.
the combined strength Of all the ami
mails and men, we got the sledge to
move again."
On April 10 the party saw the SUN go
below the horizon. It was intensely
red and surrounded by a sea Of flame.
which did MOI disappear altogether
until the 21st. His Solar Majesty was
absent then until August "a; but on his
return he found the explorers in per-
ably established in their winter home.
called Framheim after their good ship.
Fran, and were quite ready for what
lay ahead. Besides their hut, the men
had a circle of shops. store rooms and
other buildings dug out Of the Bar
rier. so that n could go the rounds
without coming out into the open air.
Here they passed a season which. by
the book, must have been far from
lonely, or melancholy.
The start for the Pole was delayed
while the spring wore on, but
The Final Dash.
"At last we got away. on October
10. The weather for the past few
days had not been altogether too re-
liable; now windy, now calm;. now
showing, now clear-regular spring
weather. in other words. That day it
thick in the morning. and did not
promise Well for the day. but by 9:30
there was a light breeze from the east,
and at the same time 1t cleared.
There were five Of us-Hanssen.
Visiting. Hassel. Bjaaland and myself.
had four sledges. with thirteen
dogs to each. At the start u sledges
ing supplies for the trip to 80 degrees
s.. where all u cases were waiting
for us; we could therefore sit OF the
sledges and flourish our whips with
a jaunty air. I sat astride on Visit
ing's sledge. and any n who had
seen us. would no doubt have thought
a Polar journey looked very inviting"
December z was a red-letter day.
Our captain was thinking Of many
skis. he being then "~forerunner" for
the party.
Then suddenly 1 was reused from
dreaming by a jubilant shout, fol-
lowed by ringing cheers. I turned
quickly to discover the reason of this
unwonted occurrence and stood
speechless and overcome.
al. - A. ----sLH- - &,p~~> tLo
feelings that possessed me at this mo-
ment. All the sledges had stopped.
and from the foremost of them the
Norwegian flag was flying. 1t shook
itself out, waved and tapped so that
the silk rustled. It looked wonderful
ly we'll in the pure. clear air and the
shining white surroundings. Eighty
eight degrees twenty-three minutes
was past. We We're farther south than
any human being had been.
No other moment Of the whole trip
affected me like this. The tears forced
their way to my eyes: by no effort Of
will could I keep them back. 1t was
the flag yonder that conquered me and
my will. Luckily I was some way in
advance of the others. SO that I had
time to pull myself together and mas
ter my feelings before reaching my
comrades. We all shook hands. with
mutual congratulations: we had won
our way far by holding together. and
we would go farther veto the end.
When at last the ultimate polar
point was reached, q little tent was
set up to mark the place and to carry
the flag. Says our captain:
Inside the tent. in a little bag. I left
a letter, addressed to H. NJ. the King.
giving information Of what we had
accomplished. The way home was a
long one. and 30 many things might
happen to make It impossible for us
to give an account of our expedition.
Besides this letter, I wrote a short
epist1e to Captain Scott. who, I assum-
ed. would be the first to find the tent.
Other things we left there were q SEX
tant with a. glass horizon. a hypsom-
eter case, three reindeer skin foot
bags. some kamiks and mittS.
when everything had been laid in
side. we went into the tent, one by
one, to write our on a tablet
we had fastened to the tent-pole. On
this occasion we received the con.
gratulations of our c%ompanions on the
successful result. for the following
messages were written on a couple of