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diff --git a/38026.txt b/38026.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7743d0c --- /dev/null +++ b/38026.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3990 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fridtjof Nansen, by Jacob B. Bull + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Fridtjof Nansen + A book for the young + +Author: Jacob B. Bull + +Translator: Mordaunt R. Barnard + +Release Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #38026] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRIDTJOF NANSEN *** + + + + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ for Project +Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + FRIDTJOF NANSEN + A Book for the Young + + By + JACOB B. BULL + + Translated + By the + Rev. Mordaunt R. Barnard + + Vicar of Margaretting, Essex + One of the translators of Dr. Nansen's "Farthest North" + + + + Boston, U.S.A. + D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers + 1903 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Chapter Page + + I. Nansen's Boyhood--Education and Character 1 + II. Youthful Adventures 14 + III. Mountain-climbing in Winter 29 + IV. Preparing for the Greenland Expedition 35 + V. Sledging across Greenland 51 + VI. Nansen's Marriage--A Strange Wedding-trip 73 + VII. The Fram--Setting out for the Pole 82 + VIII. The Ice Pressure--Hunting the White Bear 94 + IX. Farthest North 109 + X. Nansen Meeting Dr. Jackson in Franz Joseph Land 123 + + + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Page + + Map of Nansen's Polar Route Frontispiece + Store Froeen, Nansen's Birthplace 3 + Nansen at Nineteen 21 + Otto Sverdrup 43 + Camp on the Drift Ice 47 + East Greenland Esquimaux 56 + Sledging Across Greenland 64 + On the Way To Godthaab 68 + Crew of the Fram 85 + The Fram in an Ice Pressure 95 + Nansen and Johansen Leaving the Fram 110 + Meeting of Nansen and Jackson 125 + + + + + + + +FRIDTJOF NANSEN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Nansen's Birthplace and Childhood Home.--Burgomaster Nansen, + his Ancestor.--His Boyhood and Education.--Early Love of Sport + and Independent Research. + + +In West Aker, a short distance from Christiania, there is an old +manor-house called Store Froeen. It is surrounded by a large courtyard, +in the middle of which is a dovecot. The house itself, as well as the +out-houses, is built in the old-fashioned style. The garden, with its +green and white painted fence, is filled with fruit-trees, both old and +young, whose pink and snow-white blossoms myriads of bumblebees delight +to visit in springtime, while in autumn their boughs are so laden with +fruit that they are bent down under a weight they can scarcely support. + +Close by the garden runs the Frogner River. Here and there in its +course are deep pools, while in other places it runs swiftly along, +and is so shallow that it can readily be forded. All around are to be +seen in winter snow-covered heights, while far away in the background +a dense pine forest extends beyond Frogner Saeter, [1] beyond which +again lies Nordmarken, with its hidden lakes, secret brooklets, and +devious paths, like a fairy-tale. And yet close by the hum of a busy +city life with all its varied sounds may be heard. + +It was in this house that, on Oct. 10, 1861, a baby boy, Fridtjof +Nansen, was born. + +Many years before this, on Oct. 9, 1660, two of Denmark's most powerful +men were standing on the castle bridge at Copenhagen eyeing each other +with looks of hatred and defiance. One of these, named Otto Krag, was +glancing angrily at Blaataarn (the Blue Tower) with its dungeons. "Know +you that?" he inquired of his companion, the chief burgomaster of the +city. Nodding assent, and directing his looks toward the church tower +of "Our Lady," in which were hung the alarm bells, the latter replied, +"And know you what hangs within yonder tower?" + +Four days later the burghers of Copenhagen, with the burgomaster at +their head, overthrew the arrogant Danish nobles, and made Frederick +III absolute monarch over Denmark and Norway. + +It needed unyielding strength and indomitable courage to carry out such +an undertaking, but these were qualifications which the burgomaster +possessed, and had at an early age learned to employ. When but sixteen +he had set out from Flensborg on an expedition to the White Sea in a +vessel belonging to his uncle, and had then alone traversed a great +portion of Russia. Four years later he commanded an expedition to +the Arctic Ocean, and subsequently entered the service of the Iceland +Company as captain of one of their ships. + +When forty years of age he was made an alderman of Copenhagen, and +in 1654 became its chief burgomaster. During the siege of that city +in the war with Charles the Tenth (Gustavus), he was one of its most +resolute and intrepid defenders; and so when the power of the Danish +nobility was to be overthrown, it was he who took the chief part in +the movement. + +This man, who was neither cowed by the inherited tyranny of the nobles, +nor daunted by the terrors of war or the mighty forces of nature, +was named Hans Nansen; and it is from him, on his father's side, +that Fridtjof Nansen descended. + + + +Our hero's mother is a niece of Count Wedel Jarlsberg, the Statholder +[2] of Norway,--the man who in 1814 risked life and fortune to provide +Norway with grain from Denmark, and who did his share toward procuring +a free and equable union with Sweden. + +Fridtjof Nansen grew up at Store Froeen, and it was not long before +the strongly marked features of his race became apparent in the fair, +shock-haired lad with the large, dark-blue, dreamy eyes. + +Whatever was worthy of note, he must thoroughly master; whatever +was impossible for others, he must do himself. He would bathe in +the Frogner River in spring and autumn in the coldest pools; fish +bare-legged with self-made tackle in the swiftest foss; [3] contrive +and improve on everything pertaining to tools and implements, and +examine and take to pieces all the mechanical contrivances that came +in his way; often succeeding, frequently failing, but never giving in. + +Once, when only three years old, he was nearly burned to death. He had +been meddling with the copper fire in the brewhouse, and was standing +in the courtyard busied with a little wheelbarrow. All at once his +clothes were on fire, for a spark, it seems, had lighted on them, +and from exposure to the air, burst out into flames. Out rushed the +housekeeper to the rescue. Meanwhile Fridtjof stood hammering away +at his barrow, utterly indifferent to the danger he was in, while the +housekeeper was extinguishing the fire. "It was quite enough for one +person to see to that sort of thing," he thought. + +On one occasion he very nearly caused the drowning of his younger +brother in the icy river. His mother appeared on the scene as he was in +the act of dragging him up out of the water. She scolded him severely; +but the lad tried to comfort her by saying, that "once he himself +had nearly been drowned in the same river when he was quite alone." + +Once or twice on his early fishing-excursions he managed to get the +fishhook caught in his lip, and his mother had to cut it out with +a razor, causing the lad a great deal of pain, but he bore it all +without a murmur. + +The pleasures of the chase, too, were a great source of enjoyment to +him in his childish years. At first he would go out after sparrows and +squirrels with a bow and arrow like the Indian hunters. Naturally he +did not meet with much success. It then occurred to him that a cannon +would be an excellent weapon for shooting sparrows. Accordingly he +procured one, and after loading it up to the muzzle with gunpowder, +fired it off, with the result that the cannon burst into a hundred +pieces, and a large part of the charge was lodged in his face, +involving the interesting operation of having the grains of powder +picked out with a needle. + +The system on which the Nansen boys were brought up at Store Froeen +was to inure them in both mind and body. Little weight was attached +to trivial matters. The mistakes they made they must correct for +themselves as far as possible; and if they brought suffering on +themselves they were taught to endure it. The principles of self-help +were thus inculcated at an early age--principles which they never +forgot in later days. + +As Fridtjof grew up from the child into the boy, the two opposite +sides of his character became apparent,--inflexible determination, +and a dreamy love of adventure; and the older he grew, the more marked +did these become. He was, as the saying is, "a strange boy." Strong +as a young bear, he was ever foremost in fight with street boys, +whom he daily met between his home and school. When the humor took +him, especially if his younger brother was molested, he would fight +fiercely, though the odds were three or four to one against him. But +in general, he was of a quiet, thoughtful disposition. + +Sometimes indeed he would sit buried in deep thought half an hour at a +time, and when dressing would every now and then remain sitting with +one stocking on and the other in his hand so long that his brother +had to call out to him to make haste. At table, too, he would every +now and then forget to eat his food, or else would devour anything +and everything that came in his way. + +The craving to follow out his own thoughts and his own way thus +displayed itself in his early childhood, and he had not attained +a great age before his longing to achieve exploits and to test his +powers of endurance became apparent. + +It began with a pair of ski [4] made by himself for use on the Frogner +hills, developed in the hazardous leaps on the Huseby [5] slopes, +and culminated in his becoming one of Norway's cleverest and most +enduring runners on ski. It began with fishing for troutlets in the +river, and ended with catching seals in the Arctic seas. It began +with shooting sparrows with cannons, and ended with shooting the +polar bear and walrus with tiny Krag-Joergensen conical bullets. It +began with splashing about in the cold pools of the Frogner river, +and ended in having to swim for dear life amid the ice floes of the +frozen ocean. Persevering and precise, enduring and yet defiant, +step by step he progressed. + +Nothing was ever skipped over--everything was thoroughly learned and +put into practice. Thus the boy produced the man! + +There was a certain amount of pride in Fridtjof's nature that under +different circumstances might have proved injurious to him. He was +proud of his descent, and of his faith in his own powers. But the +strict and wise guidance of his parents directed this feeling into +one of loyalty--loyalty toward his friends, his work, his plans. His +innate pride thus became a conscientious feeling of honor in small +things as well as great--a mighty lever, forsooth, to be employed in +future exploits. + +Meanness was a thing unknown to Fridtjof Nansen, nor did he ever +cherish rancorous feelings in his breast. A quarrel he was ever ready +to make up, and this done it was at once and for all forgotten. + +The following instance of his school-days shows what his disposition +was:-- + +Fridtjof was in the second class of the primary school. One day a new +boy, named Karl, was admitted. Now Fridtjof was the strongest boy in +the class, but the newcomer was also a stout-built lad. It happened +that they fell out on some occasion or other. Karl was doing something +the other did not approve of, whereupon Fridtjof called out, "You've +no right to do that."--"Haven't I?" was the reply, and a battle at +once ensued. Blood began to flow freely, when the principal appeared +on the scene. Taking the two combatants, he locked them up in the +class-room. "Sit there, you naughty boys! you ought to be ashamed of +yourselves," he said, as he left them in durance vile. + +On his return to the class-room a short time afterward, he found the +two lads sitting with their arms around each other's neck, reading +out of the same book. Henceforth they were bosom friends. + +As a boy Nansen possessed singular powers of endurance and hardiness, +and could put up with cold, hunger, thirst, or pain to a far greater +degree than other boys of his age. But with all this he had a warm +heart, sympathizing in the troubles of others, and evincing sincere +interest in their welfare,--traits of character of childhood's days +that became so strongly developed in Nansen the leader. Side by side +with his yearning to achieve exploits there grew up within his breast, +under the strict surveillance of his father, the desire of performing +good, solid work. + +Here may be mentioned another instance, well worthy of notice:-- + +Fridtjof and his brother went one day to the fair. There were +jugglers and cake-stalls and gingerbread, sweets, toys, etc., in +abundance. In fine, Christiania fair, coming as it does on the first +Tuesday in February, was a very child's paradise, with all its varied +attractions. Peasants from the country driving around in their quaint +costumes, the townspeople loafing and enjoying themselves, all looking +pleased as they made their purchases at the stalls in the marketplace, +added to the "fun of the fair." + +Fridtjof and his brother Alexander went well furnished with money; for +their parents had given them a dime each, while aunt and grandmamma +gave them each a quarter apiece. Off the lads started, their faces +beaming with joy. On returning home, however, instead of bringing +with them sweets and toys, it was seen that they had spent their money +in buying tools. Their father was not a little moved at seeing this, +and the result was that more money was forthcoming for the lads. But +it all went the same way, and was spent in the purchase of tools, +with the exception of a nickel that was invested in rye cakes. + +More than one boy has on such an occasion remembered his father's and +mother's advice not to throw money away on useless things, and has +set out with the magnanimous resolve of buying something useful. The +difference between them and the Nansen boys is this: the latter not +only made good resolutions, but carried them out. It is the act that +shows the spirit, and boys who do such things are generally to be +met with in later days holding high and responsible positions. + +Fridtjof was a diligent boy at school, especially at first, and passed +his middle school examination [6] successfully. He worked hard at +the natural sciences, which had a special attraction for him. But +gradually, as he rose higher in the classes, it was the case with him +as it is with others who are destined to perform something exceptional +in the world; that is, he preferred to follow out his own ideas--ideas +that were not always in accordance with the school plan. His burning +thirst after knowledge impelled him to devote his attention to what +lay nearest, and thoroughly to investigate whatever was most worthy +of note, most wonderful, and most difficult. High aspirations soon +make themselves apparent. + +The mighty hidden forces of nature had a great attraction for him. He +and his friend Karl (who after their fight were inseparable), +when Fridtjof was about fifteen, one day got hold of a lot of +fireworks. These they mixed up together in a mortar, adding to +the compound some "new kinds of fluid" they had bought for their +experiment. Nature, however, anticipated them, for a spark happening +to fall on the mixture, it burst into flames. + +Our two experimentalists thereon seized hold of the mortar and threw +it out of the window. It fell on the stones and broke into a thousand +pieces, and thus they gained the new experience,--how a new chemical +substance should not be compounded. The humorous whim, however, seized +them to blacken their hands and faces, and to lie on the floor as if +they were dead. And when Alexander entered the room, they made him +believe that the explosion had been the cause of it all. Thus, though +the experiment had failed, they got some amusement out of its failure. + +Although Fridtjof had so many interests outside his actual school +studies, he was very diligent in his school work. In 1880 he took +his real artium, [7] with twenty-one marks in twelve subjects. In +natural science, mathematics, and history he had the best marks, +and in the following examination in 1881 he gained the distinction +of passing laudabilis prae ceteris. + +Though brought up at home very strictly, for his father was extremely +particular about the smallest matters, yet his life must have possessed +great charm for him, spent as it was in the peaceful quiet of his +home at Store Froeen. If on the one hand his father insisted that he +should never shirk his duty, but should strictly fulfil it, on the +other he never denied him anything that could afford him pleasure. + +This is evident from a letter Fridtjof Nansen wrote home during one +of his first sojourns among strangers. On writing to his father +in 1883 he dwells on the Christmas at home, terms it the highest +ideal of happiness and blessedness, dwells on the bright peaceful +reminiscences of his childhood and ends with the following description +of a Christmas Eve:-- + +"At last the day dawned,--Christmas Eve. Now impatience was at +its height. It was impossible to sit still for one minute; it was +absolute necessary to be doing something to get the time to pass, +or to occupy one's thoughts either by peeping through the keyhole to +try and catch a glimpse of the Christmas-tree with its bags of raisins +and almonds, or by rushing out-of-doors and sliding down the hills on +a hand-sleigh; or if there were snow enough, we could go out on ski +till it was dark. Sometimes it would happen that Einar had to go on +an errand into the town, and it was so nice to sit on the saddle at +the back of the sleigh, while the sleigh-bells tinkled so merrily, +and the stars glittered in the dark sky overhead. + +"The long-expected moment arrived at last,--father went in to +light up. How my heart thumped and throbbed! Ida was sitting in +an armchair in a corner, guessing what would fall to her share; +others of the party might be seen to smile in anticipation of some +surprise or other of which they had got an inkling--when all at once +the doors were thrown wide open, and the dazzling brilliancy of the +lights on the Christmas-tree well nigh blinded us. Oh, what a sight +it was! For the first few minutes we were literally dumb from joy, +could scarcely draw our breath--only a moment afterward to give free +vent to our pent-up feelings, like wild things.... Yes--yes--never +shall I forget them--never will those Christmas Eves fade from my +memory as long as I live." + +Reminiscences of a good home, of a good and happy childhood, are +the very best things a man can take with him amid the storms and +struggles of life; and we may be sure of this,--that on many a day +that has been beset with almost insurmountable difficulties, when his +powers were almost exhausted, and his heart feeling faint within, +the recollection of those early years at Store Froeen has more than +once recurred to Nansen's mind. + +The peace and comfort of the old home, with all its dear associations, +the beloved faces of its inmates--these have passed before his mind's +eye, cheering him on in the accomplishment of his last tremendous +undertaking. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Youthful Excursions.--Studies.--Goes on a Sealing Expedition to + the Arctic Sea.--Hunts Ice-bear. + + +There is hardly a boy in Christiania or its neighborhood who is fond +of sport that does not know Nordmarken, and you may hear many and many +a one speak of its lakes, the deafening roar of its cascades, of the +mysterious silence of its endless forest tracts, and the refreshing +odor of the pine-trees. You may hear, too, how the speckled trout +have been lured out of some deep pool, the hare been hunted among the +purple mountain ridges, or the capercailzie approached with noiseless +footsteps when in early spring the cock bird is wooing his mate; or +again, of expeditions on ski over the boundless tracts of snow in the +crisp winter air beneath the feathery snowladen trees of the forest. + +In the days of Nansen's boyhood it was very different from what it is +now. Then the spell of enchantment that ever lies over an unknown and +unexplored region brooded over it--a feeling engendered by Asbjoernsen's +[8] well-known tales. + +It was as if old Asbjoernsen himself, the fairy-tale king, was trudging +along rod in hand by the side of some hidden stream--he who alone +knew how to find his way through the pathless forest to the dark +waters of some remote lake. And it was but once in a while that the +most venturesome lads, enticed by the tales he had devoured in that +favorite story-book, dared pry into the secrets of that enchanted +land. Only a few of the rising generation then had the courage and +the hardihood to penetrate into those wilds whence they returned with +faces beaming with joy, and with reinvigorated health and strength. But +now the whole Norwegian youth do the same thing. + +Among the few who in those days ventured there were the Nansen +boys. They had the pluck, the hardiness, and yearning after adventure +that Nordmarken demanded. They were not afraid of lying out in the +forest during a pouring wet summer night, neither were they particular +as to whether they had to fast for a day or two. + +Fridtjof Nansen was about eleven years old when, in company with his +brother Alexander, he paid his first independent visit to it. Two +of their friends were living in Soerkedal, [9] so they determined +to go and see them--for the forest looked so attractive that they +could not resist the temptation. For once they started off without +asking leave. They knew their way as far as Bogstad, [10] but after +that had to ask the road to Soerkedal. Arriving at their destination, +they passed the day in playing games, and in fishing in the river. + +But it was not altogether an enjoyable visit, for conscience pricked, +and as they set out for home late in the evening, their hearts +sank. Their father was a strict disciplinarian, and a thrashing rose +up before them, and what was even worse than that, mother might be +grieved, and that was something they could not endure to think of. + +On reaching home they found its inmates had not gone to bed, though +it was late in the night. Of course they had been searching for the +truants, and their hearts, which a moment before had been very low +down, now jumped up into their throats, for they could see mother +coming toward them. + +"Is that you, boys?" she asked. + +"Now for it," they thought. + +"Where have you been?" asked their mother. + +Yes, they had been to Soerkedal, and they looked up at her half afraid +of what would happen next. Then they saw that her eyes were filled +with tears. + +"You are strange boys!" she murmured; and that was all she said. But +those words made the hearts of the young culprits turn cold and hot +by turns, and they there and then registered a vow that they would +never do anything again to cause mother pain, but would always try +to please her--a resolution they kept, as far as was possible, their +whole lives through. + +Subsequently they had leave given them to go to Soerkedal, and wherever +else they wanted. But they had to go on their own responsibility, and +look out for themselves as best they could. But Fridtjof never forgot +the lesson he had learned on that first expedition to Nordmarken. Who +can tell whether his mother's tearful face, and her gentle words, +"You are strange boys!" have not appeared to him in wakeful hours, +and been the means of preventing many a venturesome deed being rashly +undertaken, many a headstrong idea from becoming defiant. + +This at all events is certain,--Nansen when a man always knew how to +turn aside in a spirit of self-denial when the boundary line between +prudence and rashness had been reached. And for this it may be safely +said he had to thank his father and mother. + + + +Those who are in the habit of going about in forests are pretty sure +to meet with some wonderful old fellow who knows where the best fish +lie in the river, and the favorite haunts of game in the woods. Such +a one was an old man named Ola Knub, whose acquaintance Nansen made +in the Nordmarken forest. His wife used to come to Store Froeen with +baskets of huckleberries, strawberries, cranberries, etc., and it was +through her Fridtjof got to know him. Often they would set off on an +expedition, rod in hand, and coffee kettle on their back, and be away +for days together. They would fish for trout from early morning till +late at night, sleeping on a plank bed in some wood-cutter's hut, after +partaking of a supper of trout broiled in the ashes, and black coffee. + +Toward the end of May, when the birch and the oak began to bud, and +the timber floats had gone down the river, they would start on such +an expedition, taking with them a goodly supply of bread and butter, +and perhaps the stump of a sausage. + +It took them generally quite five hours to reach their destination, +but once arrived there they would immediately set to work with rod +and line, and fish up to midnight, when they would crawl into some +charcoal-burner's hut for a few hours' sleep, or as was often the case, +sleep out in the open, resting their backs against a tree, and then +at daybreak would be off again, to the river. For time was precious, +and they had to make the best use they could of the hours between +Saturday evening and Monday morning, when they must be in school. + +When autumn set in, and hare-hunting began, they would often be +on foot for twenty-four hours together without any food at all. As +the boys grew older, they would follow the chase in winter on ski, +often, indeed, almost to the detriment of their health. Once when +they had been hare-hunting for a whole fortnight, they found their +provision-bag was empty, and as they would not touch the hares they +had killed, they had to subsist as best they could on potatoes only. + +In this way Fridtjof grew up to be exceptionally hardy. When, as +it often happened, his companions got worn out, he would suggest +their going to some spot a long distance off. It seemed to be a +special point of honor with him to bid defiance to fatigue. On +one occasion, after one of these winter excursions to Nordmarken, +he set off alone without any provisions in his knapsack to a place +twenty-five kilometres (fifteen and a half miles) distant, for none +of his companions dared accompany him. On arriving at the place where +he was bound, he almost ate its inmates out of house and home. + +On another occasion, on a long expedition on ski with some of his +comrades, all of whom had brought a plentiful supply of food with them +in their knapsacks, Fridtjof had nothing. When they halted to take some +necessary refreshment, he unbuttoned his jacket and pulled out some +pancakes from his pocket, quite warm from the heat of his body. "Here, +you fellows," he said, "won't you have some pancakes?" But pancakes, +his friends thought, might be nice things in general, yet pancakes +kept hot in that way were not appetizing, and so they refused his +proffered hospitality. + +"You are a lot of geese! there's jam on them too," he said, as he +eagerly devoured the lot. + +Even as a boy Fridtjof was impressed with the idea that hardiness and +powers of endurance were qualifications absolutely essential for the +life he was bent on leading; so he made it his great aim to be able +to bear everything, and to require as little as was possible. + +If there were things others found impracticable, he would at once +set to work and attempt them. And when once he had taken a matter +in hand, he would never rest till he had gone through with it, even +though his life might be at stake. For instance, he and his brother +once set out to climb the Svartdal's peak in Jotunheim. [11] People +usually made the ascent from the rear side of the mountain; but this +was not difficult enough for him. He would climb it from the front, +a route no one had ever attempted; and he did it. + +Up under Svartdal's peak there was a glacier that they must cross, +bounded on its farther side by a precipice extending perpendicularly +down into the valley below. His brother relates, "I had turned giddy, +so Fridtjof let me have his staff. Then he set off over the ice; but +instead of going with the utmost caution, advancing foot by foot at a +time, as he now would do, off went my brother as hard as he could--his +foot slipped, and he commenced to slide down the glacier. I saw that +he turned pale, for in a few seconds more he would be hurled over the +abyss, and be crushed to pieces on the rocks below. He saw his danger, +however, just in the nick of time, and managed to arrest his progress +by digging his heels into the snow. Never shall I forget that moment; +neither shall I forget when we arrived at the tourist's cabin how +he borrowed a pair of trousers belonging to the club's corpulent +secretary--for they completely swallowed him up. His own garment, +be it stated, had lost an essential part by the excessive friction +caused by his slide down the glacier." + +Such were the foolhardy exploits Fridtjof would indulge in as a boy; +but when he arrived at manhood he would never risk his life in any +undertaking that was not worth a life's venture. + + + +When nineteen he entered the university, and in the following year +passed his second examination; [12] and now arose the question +what was he to be? As yet the idea of the future career which has +rendered his name famous had not occurred to his mind, so we see +him hesitating over which of the many roads that lay before him to +adopt. He applied to have his name put down for admission as cadet in +the military school, but quickly withdrew the application. Next he +began the study of medicine, after which all his time was devoted +to a special study of zoology. In 1882 he sought the advice of +Professor Collet as to the best method of following up this branch +of science, and the professor's reply was that he had better go on a +sealing-expedition to the Arctic seas. Nansen took a week to reflect +on this advice before finally deciding; and on March 11 we see him on +board the sealer Viking, steering out of Arendal harbor to the Arctic +ocean--the ocean that subsequently was to mark an epoch in his life, +and become the scene of his memorable exploit. + +It was with wondrously mixed feelings that he turned his gaze toward +the north as he stood on the deck that March morning. Behind him lay +the beloved home of his childhood and youth. The first rays of the +rising sun were shining over the silent forests whither the woodcock +and other birds of passage would soon be journeying from southern +climes, and the capercailzie beginning his amorous manoeuvres on the +sombre pine tops, while the whole woodland would speedily be flooded +with the songs of its feathered denizens. + +And there before him was the sea, the wondrous sea, where he would +behold wrecked vessels drifting along in the raging tempest, with +flocks of stormy petrels in attendance--and beyond, the Polar sea, +that fairy region, was pictured in his dreams. Yes, he could see it in +his spirit--could see the mighty icebergs, with their crests sparkling +in the sunlight in thousands of varied forms and hues, and between +these the boundless tracts of ice extending as far as the eye could +reach in one level unbroken plain. When this dream became reality, +how did he meet it? + +Flat, drifting floes of ice, rocked up and down in the blue-green +sea, alike in sunshine and in fog, in storm and calm. One monotonous +infinity of ice to struggle through, floe after floe rising up like +white-clad ghosts from the murky sea, gliding by with a soughing, +rippling murmur to vanish from sight, or to dash against the ship's +sides till masts and hull quivered; and then when morning broke, +a faint, mysterious light, a hollow murmur in the air, like the roar +of distant surge, far away to the north. + +This was the Arctic sea! this the drift ice! They were soon in the +midst of it. The sea-gulls circled about, and the snow-bunting whirled +around the floes of ice on which the new-fallen snow lay and glittered. + +A gale set in; then it blew a hurricane; and the Viking groaned like +a wounded whale, quivering as if in the agonies of death from the +fierce blows on her sides. At last they approached the scene of their +exertions, and the excitement of the impending chase for seals drove +out every other feeling from the mind, and every one was wondering +"were there many seals this year? would the weather be propitious?" + +One forenoon "a sail to leeward" was reported by the man in the +crow's-nest, and all hands were called up on deck, every stitch of +canvas spread, and all the available steam-power used to overtake +the stranger. + +There were two ships; one of them being Nordenskjoeld's famous Vega, +now converted into a sealer. Nansen took his hat off to her; and +it may well be that this strange encounter imbued his mind with a +yearning to accomplish some exploit of a similar perilous nature +and world-wide renown as that of the famed Vega expedition. It is a +significant fact that the Vega was the first ship Nansen met with in +the Arctic sea--a fact that forces itself upon the mind with all the +might of a historic moment, with all the fateful force of destiny. It +addresses us like one of those many accidental occurrences that seem +as if they had a purpose--occurrences that every man who is on the +alert and mindful of his future career will meet once at least if +not oftener on his journey through life. Such things are beyond our +finite comprehension. Some people may term them "the finger of God," +others the new, higher, unknown laws of nature; it may be these names +signify but one and the same thing. + +That year the Viking did not meet with great success among the seals, +for the season was rather too advanced by the time she reached the +sealing-grounds. But all the more did Nansen get to learn about the +Arctic sea; and of the immense waste of waters of that free, lonely +ocean, his inmost being drank in refreshing draughts. + +On May 2, Spitzbergen was sighted, and on the 25th they were off the +coast of Iceland, where Nansen for a while planted his foot once more +on firm land. But their stay there was short, and soon they were off +to sea again, and in among the seals. And now the continual report +of guns sounded all around; the crew singing and shouting; flaying +seals and boiling the blubber--a life forsooth of busy activity. + +Toward the end of June the Viking got frozen in off the East Greenland +coast, where she lay imprisoned a whole month, unfortunately during +the best of the sealing season; a loss, indeed, to the owners, but a +gain for Nansen, who now for the first time in his life got his full +enjoyment in the chase of the polar bear. + +During all these days of their imprisonment in the ice there was +one incessant chase after bears,--looking out for bears from the +crow's-nest, racing after bears over the ice, resulting in loss of +life to a goodly number of those huge denizens of the Polar regions. + +"Bear on the weather bow!" "Bear to leeward! all hands turn out!" were +the cries from morning till night; and many a time did Nansen jump up +from his berth but half dressed, and away over the ice to get a shot. + +Toward evening one day in July Nansen was sitting up in the +crow's-nest, making a sketch of the Greenland coast. On deck one of +the crew, nicknamed Balloon, was keeping watch, and just as our artist +was engrossed with his pencil, he heard Balloon shouting at the top +of his voice, "Bear ahead!" In an instant Nansen sprang up, threw +his painting-materials down on the deck below, quickly following the +same himself down the rigging. But alas! by the time he had reached +the deck and seized his rifle, the bear had disappeared. + +"A pretty sort of fellow to sit up in the crow's-nest and not see a +bear squatting just in front of the bows!" said the captain tauntingly. + +But a day or two afterward Nansen fully retrieved his reputation. It +was his last bear-hunt on the expedition, and this is what occurred:-- + +He and the captain and one of the sailors set out after a monstrous +bear. The beast, however, was shy, and beat a speedy retreat. All three +sprang after it. But as Nansen was jumping over an open place in the +ice, he fell plump into the sea. His first thought on finding himself +in the water was his rifle, which he flung upon the ice. But it slipped +off again into the water, so Nansen had to dive after it. Next time he +managed to throw it some distance across the ice, and then clambered +up himself, of course wet through to the skin. But his cartridges, +which were water-tight ones, were all right, and soon he rejoined +his companions in pursuit, and outstripped them. In a little while +he saw the bear making for a hummock, and made straight for him; on +coming up to closer quarters the beast turned sharp round and dropped +into the water, but not before Nansen was able to put a bullet into +him. On reaching the edge of the ice, he could see no trace of the +animal. Yes--there was something white yonder, a little below the +surface, for the bear had dived. Presently he saw the animal pop its +head up just in front of him, and a moment after its paws were on the +edge of the floe, on which, with a fierce and angry growl, the huge +beast managed to drag himself up. Nansen now fired again, and had +the satisfaction of seeing the bear drop back dead into the water, +where he had to hold it by the ears to prevent it sinking, till his +companions came up, when they were able to haul it up on the ice. + +The captain now bade Nansen return to the ship as quickly as he could +to change his clothes; but on his road thither he met with some others +of the crew in pursuit of a couple of bears. The temptation was too +strong for him, so he joined them. He was fortunate enough to shoot one +of the bears that they had wounded, and then started after bear number +two, which was leisurely devouring the carcass of a seal some little +distance off. On coming up with it he fired. The bear reeled and fell +backwards into the water, but speedily coming up again, made off for +a large hummock, under cover of which it hoped to be able to sneak off. + +But Nansen was not far behind. It was an exciting chase. First over a +wide space of open water, then across some firm ice; the bear dashed +along for dear life, and now the iron muscles, hardened by his exploits +on the Huseby hills and his Nordmarken experiences, stood his pursuer +in good stead. Following on the blood-stained track, he ran as fast +as his legs could carry him. Now the bear, now Nansen, seemed to be +getting the advantage. Whenever a broad opening in the ice or a pool +of clear water came in their way, they swam across it; bear first, +Nansen a good second--and so it went on mile after mile. Presently, +however, Nansen thought his competitor in the race began to slacken +speed, and to turn and twist in his course, as if seeking for some +friendly shelter; and coming up within a reasonable distance he gave +him two bullets, one lodging in the chest, the other behind the ear, +when to his great joy the bear lay dead at his feet. Nansen at once set +to work to skin the brute with a penknife--rather a tedious operation +with such an instrument. Presently one of the sailors came up, and +off they started for the ship with the skin, on their road meeting +a man whom the captain had thoughtfully despatched with a supply +of bread and meat, without which, indeed, as is well known, a hero, +especially when ravenously hungry, is a nobody. + +In all, nineteen bears were bagged during this time. + +Soon after this bear-hunt the Viking set out for home, and great was +the joy of all on board when the coast of "old Norway," with its lofty +mountain ridges, was seen towering up over the sea. This expedition +of the Viking was termed by the sailors, "Nansen's cruise,"--an +exceptional reminiscence, a monolith in the midst of the ice! + +"Ay, he was a chap after bears!" said one of the sailors afterward; +"just as much under the water as over it, when he was after bears. I +told him that he was going to injure his health that way; but he +only laughed, and pointing to his woollen jersey said, 'I do not +feel cold.'" + +To Fridtjof Nansen this Arctic expedition became the turning-point +of his life. The dream of the mighty ocean never left him; it was +ever before his eyes with all its inexplicable riddles. + +Here was something to do--something that people called impossible. He +would test it. Some years, however, must elapse before that dream +should become reality. Nansen must first be a man. Everything +that tended to retard his progress must be removed or shattered to +pieces--all that would promote it, improved upon and set in order. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Fridtjof Nansen Accepts a Position in the Bergen Museum.--Crosses + the Mountains in the Winter.--Prepares Himself for the Doctor's + Degree. + + +The very same day that Nansen set foot on land after his return from +this expedition he was offered the Conservatorship of the Bergen [13] +Museum by Professor Collett. Old Danielsen, the chief physician, a +man of iron capacity for work, and who had attained great renown in +his profession, wanted to place a new man in charge. Nansen promptly +accepted the offer, but asked first to be allowed to visit a sister +in Denmark. But a telegram from Danielsen, "Nansen must come at +once," compelled him, though with no little regret, to give up his +projected visit. + +The meeting of these two men was as if two clouds heavily laden with +electricity had come in contact, producing a spark that blazed over the +northern sky. That spark resulted in the famous Greenland expedition. + +Danielsen was one of those who held that a youth possessed of health, +strength, and good abilities should be able to unravel almost anything +and everything in this world, and in Fridtjof Nansen he found such +an one. So these two worked together assiduously; for both were alike +enthusiastic in the cause of science, both possessed the same strong +faith in its advancement. And Danielsen, the clear-headed scientist, +after being associated with his colleague for some few years, +entertained such firm confidence in his powers and capabilities, +that a short time before the expedition to the North Pole set out, +he wrote in a letter:-- + +"Fridtjof Nansen will as surely return crowned with success from +the North Pole as it is I who am writing these lines--such is an old +man's prophecy!" + +The old scientist, who felt his end was drawing near, sent him before +his death an anticipatory letter of greeting when the expedition +should happily be over. + +Nansen devoted himself to the study of science with the same +indomitable energy that characterized all of his achievements. + +Hour by hour he would sit over his microscope, month after month devote +himself to the pursuit of knowledge. Yet every now and then, when he +felt he must go out to get some fresh air, he would buckle on his ski, +and dash along over the mountain or through the forest till the snow +spurted up in clouds behind him. Thus he spent several years in Bergen. + +But one fine day, chancing to read in the papers that Nordenskjoeld +had returned from his expedition to Greenland, and had said that +the interior of the country was a boundless plain of ice and snow, +it flashed on his mind that here was a field of work for him. Yes--he +would cross Greenland on ski! and he at once set to work to prepare +a plan for the expedition. But such an adventurous task, in which +life would be at stake, must not be undertaken till he himself had +become a proficient in that branch of science which he had selected +as his special study. So he remains yet some more years in Bergen, +after which he spends twelve months in Naples, working hard at the +subjects in which he subsequently took his doctor's degree in 1888. + +Those years of expectation in Bergen were busy years. Every now and +then he would become homesick. In winter time he would go by the +railway from Bergen to Voss, [14] thence on ski over the mountains +to Christiania, down the Stalheim road,1 with its sinuous twists and +bends, on through Naeroedal, noted for its earth slips, on by the swift +Lerdals river fretting and fuming on one side, and a perpendicular +mountain wall on the other. And here he would sit to rest in that +narrow gorge where avalanches are of constant occurrence. Let them +come! he must rest awhile and eat. A solitary wayfarer hurries by +on his sleigh as fast as his horse will go. "Take care!" shouts +the traveller as he passes by; and Nansen looks up, gathers his +things together, and proceeds on his journey through the valley. It +was Sauekilen, the most dangerous spot in Lerdals, where he was +resting. Then the night falls, the moon shines brightly overhead, +and the creaking sound of his footsteps follows him over the desert +waste, and his dark-blue shadow stays close beside him. And he, the +man possessed of ineffable pride and indomitable resolution, feels how +utterly insignificant he is in that lonely wilderness of snow--naught +but an insect under the powerful microscope of the starlit sky, for +the far-seeing eye of the Almighty is piercing through his inmost +soul. Here it avails not to seek to hide aught from that gaze. So +he pours out his thoughts to Him who alone has the right to search +them. That midnight pilgrimage over the snowy waste was like a divine +service on ski; and it was as an invigorated man, weary though he was +in body, that he knocked at the door of a peasant's cabin, while its +astonished inmates looked out in amazement, and the old housewife cried +out, "Nay! in Jesus' name, are there folk on the fjeld [15] so late in +the night? Nay! is it you? Suppose you are always so late on the road!" + +Even still more arduous was the return journey that same winter. The +people in the last house on the eastern side of the mountain, in +bidding him "God speed," entreat him to go cautiously, for the road +over the fjeld is well nigh impassable in winter, they say. Not a man +in the whole district would follow him, they add. Nansen promises them +to be very careful, as he sets off in the moonlight at three o'clock in +the morning. Soon he reaches the wild desert, and the glittering snow +blushes like a golden sea in the beams of the rising sun. Presently +he reaches Myrstoelen. [16] The houseman is away from home, and the +women-folk moan and weep on learning the road he means to take. On +resuming his journey he shortly comes to a cross-road. Shall it be +Aurland or Vosse skavlen? [17] He chooses the latter route across +the snow plateau, for it is the path the wild reindeer follow. On he +skims over the crisp surface enveloped in the cloud of snow-dust his +ski stir up, for the wind is behind him. But now he loses his way, +falls down among the clefts and fissures, toils along step by step, +and at last has to turn back and retrace his steps. There ought +to be a saeter [18] somewhere about there, but it seems as if it +had been spirited away. A pitchy darkness sets in; for the stars +have disappeared one by one, and the night is of a coal-black hue, +and Fridtjof has to make his bed on the snow-covered plateau, under +the protecting shelter of a bowlder, his faithful dog by his side, +his knapsack for a pillow, while the night wind howls over the waste. + +Again, at three in the morning, he resumes his journey, only again to +lose his way, and burying himself in the snow, determines to wait for +daybreak. Dawn came over the mountain-tops in a sea of rosy light, +while the dark shadows of night fled to their hiding-places in the +deep valleys below--a proclamation of eternity, where nature was the +preacher and nature the listener, the voice of God speaking to himself. + +At broad daylight he sees Vosse skavlen close at hand, and thither +he drags his weary, stiffened limbs; but on reaching the summit he +drinks "skaal [19] to the fjeld," a frozen orange, the last he has, +being his beverage. Before the sun sets again, Fridtjof has crossed +that mountain height, as King Sverre [20] did of yore--an achievement +performed by those two alone! + + + +Fridtjof Nansen's father died in 1885, and it was largely consideration +for his aged parent's failing health during the last few years that +delayed Nansen's setting out on his Greenland expedition. The letters +that passed between father and son during this period strikingly +evince the tender relationship existing between them. On receipt of +the tidings of his father's last illness he hurried off at a moment's +notice, never resting on his long homeward journey, inexpressibly +grieved at arriving too late to see him alive. + +Then, after a year's sojourn in Naples, where he met the genial and +energetic Professor Dohrn, the founder of the biological station +[21] in that city, having no further ties to hinder him, he enters +heart and soul into the tasks he has set himself to accomplish,--to +take his degree as doctor of philosophy, and to make preparation for +his expedition to Greenland, both of which tasks he accomplished in +the same year with credit. For he not only made himself a name as a +profound researcher in the realms of science, but at the same time +equipped an expedition that was soon destined to excite universal +attention, not in the north alone, but throughout the length and +breadth of Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Nansen Meets Nordenskjoeld. [22]--Preparations for the Greenland + Expedition.--Nansen's Followers on the Expedition.--Starting on + the Expedition.--Drifting on an Ice-floe.--Landing on East Coast + of Greenland. + + +Nansen had an arduous task before him in the spring of 1888, one that +demanded all his strength and energy, for he would take his doctor's +degree, and make preparations for his expedition to Greenland. + +He had already, in the autumn of 1887, made up his mind to accomplish +both these things. In November of that year, accordingly, he went +to Stockholm to confer with Nordenskjoeld. Professor Broegger, who +introduced him to that gentleman, gives the following account of +the interview:-- + +"On Thursday, Nov. 3, as I was sitting in my study in the Mineralogical +Institute, my messenger came in and said a Norwegian had been inquiring +for me. He had left no card, neither had he given his name. Doubtless, +I thought, it was some one who wanted help out of a difficulty. + +"'What was he like?' I inquired. + +"'Tall and fair,' replied the messenger. + +"'Was he dressed decently?' I asked. + +"'He hadn't an overcoat on.' This with a significant smile, as he +added, 'Looked for all the world like a seafaring man--or a tramp.' + +"'Humph!' I muttered to myself; 'sailor with no overcoat! Very likely +thinks I'm going to give him one--yes, I think I understand.' + +"Later on in the afternoon Wille [23] came in. 'Have you seen +Nansen?' he said. + +"'Nansen?' I replied. 'Was that sailor fellow without an overcoat +Nansen?' + +"'Without an overcoat! Why, he means to cross over the inland ice of +Greenland;' and out went Wille--he was in a hurry. + +"Presently entered Professor Lecke with the same question, 'Have +you seen Nansen? Isn't he a fine fellow? such a lot of interesting +discoveries he told me of, and then his researches into the nervous +system--a grand fellow!' and off went Lecke. + +"But before long the man himself entered the room. Tall, upright, +broad-shouldered, strongly built, though slim and very youthful +looking, with his shock of hair brushed off his well-developed +forehead. Coming toward me and holding out his hand, he introduced +himself by name, while a pleasing smile played over his face. + +"'And you mean to cross over Greenland?' I asked. + +"'Yes; I've been thinking of it,' was the reply. + +"I looked him in the face, as he stood before me with an air +of conscious self-reliance about him. With every word he spoke he +seemed to grow on me; and this plan of his to cross over Greenland +on ski from the east coast, which but a moment ago I had looked on +as a madman's idea, during our conversation gradually grew on me, +till it seemed to be the most natural thing in the world; and all at +once it flashed on my mind, 'And he'll do it, too, as sure as ever +we are sitting here talking about it.' + +"He, whose name but two hours ago I had not known, became in those +few minutes (and it all came about so naturally) as if he were an +old acquaintance, and I felt I should be proud and fortunate indeed +to have him for my friend my whole life through. + +"'We will go and see Nordenskjoeld at once,' I said, rising up. And +we went. + +"With his strange attire,--he was dressed in a tight-fitting, +dark-blue blouse or coatee, a kind of knitted jacket,--he was, as +may be supposed, stared at in Drottning-gatan. Some people, indeed, +took him for an acrobat or tight-rope dancer." + +Nordenskjoeld, "old Nor" as he was often termed, was in his laboratory, +and looked up sharply as his two visitors entered the room, for he was, +as ever, "busy." + +The professor saluted, and introduced his companion, "Conservator +Nansen from Bergen, who purposes to cross over the inland ice of +Greenland." + +"The deuce he does!" muttered "old Nor," staring with all his eyes +at the fair-haired young viking. + +"And would like to confer with you about it," continued the professor. + +"Quite welcome; and so Herr Nansen thinks of crossing over Greenland?" + +"Yes; such was his intention." Thereon, without further ado, he +sketched out his projected plan, to which "old Nor" listened with +great attention, shaking his head every now and then, as if rather +sceptical about it, but evidently getting more and more interested +as he proceeded. + +As Nansen and Professor Broegger were sitting in the latter's house +that evening, a knock was heard at the door, and who should come in +but "old Nor" himself--a convincing proof to Broegger that the old +man entertained a favorable idea of the proposed plan. And many a +valuable hint did the young ice-bear get from the old one, as they +sat opposite each other--the man of the past and the coming man of +the present--quietly conversing together that evening. + +Now Nansen sets off for home in order to prepare for the arduous task +of the ensuing spring. In December, 1887, he is in Bergen again, and +at the end of January he travels on ski from Hardanger to Kongsberg, +thence by rail to Christiania. + +In March we see him once more in Bergen, giving lectures in order +to awaken public interest in Greenland; now sleeping out on the +top of Blaamand, [24] a mountain near Bergen, in a sleeping-bag, to +test its efficiency; now standing on the cathedra in the university +auditorium to claim his right to the degree of doctor of philosophy, +which on April 28 was honorably awarded him; and on May 2 he sets out +for Copenhagen, en route for Greenland. For unhappily it was the case +in Norway in 1888 that Norwegian exploits must be carried out with +Danish help. In vain had he sought for assistance from the regents +of the university. They recommended the matter to the government, but +the government had no 5,000 kroner [25] ($1,350) to throw away on such +an enterprise,--the enterprise of a madman, as most people termed it. + +Yet when that enterprise had been carried to a successful issue, and +that same lunatic had become a great man and asked the government and +the storthing [26] for a grant of 200,000 kroner ($54,000) for his +second mad expedition, his request was promptly granted. A new Norway +had grown up meanwhile, a new national spirit had forced its way into +existence, a living testimony to the power of the Nansen expedition. + +As stated above, Nansen had to go to Denmark for the 5,000 kroner; +and it was the wealthy merchant, Augustin Gamel, who placed that +amount at his disposal. Still, certain is it, had not that sum of +money been forthcoming as it was, Fridtjof Nansen would have plucked +himself bare to the last feather in order to carry out his undertaking. + +But what was there to be gained from an expedition to Greenland worth +the risking of human life,--for a life-risk it unquestionably would +be,--to say nothing of the cost thereof? What was there to be learned +from the ice? + +The question is soon answered. + +The island of Greenland,--for it is now well ascertained that it +is an island, and that the largest in the world,--this Sahara of +the North, contains within its ice-plains the key to the history of +the human race. For it is the largest homogeneous relic we possess +of the glacial age. Such as Greenland now is, so large tracts of +the world have been; and, what is of more interest to us, so has +the whole of the north been. It is this mighty ice-realm that has +caused a large proportion of the earth's surface to assume its present +appearance. The lowlands of Mid-Germany and Denmark have been scoured +and transported thither from the rocks of Norway and Sweden. The +Swedish rock at Luetzen in Saxony is Swedish granite that the ice +has carried with it. And the small glaciers still left in Norway, +such as the Folgefond, Jostedalsbrae, Svartis, [27] etc., are merely +"calves" of that ancient, stupendous mass of ice that time and heat +have transported, even though it once lay more than a thousand metres +in thickness over widely extended plains. + +To investigate, therefore, the inland ice of Greenland is, in a word, +to investigate the great glacial age; and one may learn from such +a study many a lesson explanatory of our earth's appearance at the +present day, and ascertain what could exist, and what could not, +under such conditions. + +We know now that, during the glacial age, human beings lived on this +earth, even close up to this gigantic glacier, that subsequently +destroyed all life on its course. It may be safely asserted that the +struggle with the ice, and with the variations of climate, have been +important factors in making the human race what it will eventually be, +the lords of nature. + +The Esquimaux in their deerskin dress, the aborigines of Australia, the +pigmy tribes of Africa's primeval forests, are a living testimony of +the tenacious powers of the soul and body of mankind,--civilization's +trusty outposts. An Esquimau living on blubber under fifty degrees +of cold is just as much a man of achievement in this work-a-day world +as an Edison, who, with every comfort at his disposal, forces nature +to disclose her hidden marvels. But he who, born in the midst of +civilization, and who forces his way to an outpost farther advanced +than any mankind has yet attained, is greater, perhaps, than either, +especially when in his struggle for existence he wrests from nature +her inmost secrets. + +This was the kernel of Nansen's exploits--his first and his last. + + + +Nansen was fully alive to the fact that his enterprise would involve +human life; and he formed his plans in such wise that he would +either attain his object or perish in the attempt. He would make the +dangerous, uninhabited coast of East Greenland his starting-point as +one which presented no enticement for retracing his steps. He would +force his way onward. The instinct of self-preservation should impel +him toward the west--the greater his advance in that direction the +greater his hopes. Behind him naught but death; before him, life! + +But he must have followers! Where were men to be found to risk their +lives on such a venture? to form one of a madman's retinue? And not +only that, he must have men with him who, like himself, were well +versed in all manly sports, especially in running on ski; men hard as +iron, as he was; men who, like himself, were unencumbered with family +ties. Where were such to be found? He sought long and diligently, +and he found them. + +There was a man named Sverdrup--Otto Sverdrup. Yes, we all of us +know him now! But then he was an unknown Nordland youth, inured to +hardship on sea and land, an excellent sailor, a skilful ski-runner, +firm of purpose; one to whom fatigue was a stranger, physically strong +and able in emergency, unyielding as a rod of iron, firm as a rock. A +man chary of words in fine weather, but eloquent in storm: possessed, +too, of a courage that lay so deep that it needed almost a peril +involving life to arouse it. Yet, when the pinch came Sverdrup was +in his element. Then would his light blue eyes assume a darker hue, +and a smile creep over his hard-set features; then he would resemble +a hawk that sits on a perch with ruffled feathers, bidding defiance +to every one who approaches it, but which, when danger draws nigh, +flaps its pinions, and soars aloft in ever widening circles, increasing +with the force of the tempest, borne along by the storm. + +This man accompanied him. + +Number two was Lieutenant, now Captain, Olaf Dietrichson. He, too, +hailed from the north. A man who loved a life in the open air, a master +in all manly exploits, elastic as a steel spring, a proficient on ski, +and a sportsman in heart and soul. And added to this, a man possessed +of great knowledge in those matters especially that were needed in +an expedition like the present. He, too, was enrolled among the number. + +Number three was also from Nordland, from Sverdrup's neighborhood, +who recommended him. His name was Kristian Kristiansen Trana--a handy +and reliable youth. + +These three were all Nordlanders. But Nansen had a great desire to +have a couple of Fjeld-Finns with him, for he considered that, inured +as they were to ice and snow, their presence would be of great service +to him. They came from Karasjok. [28] The one a fine young fellow, more +Qvaen [29] than Lapp; the other a little squalid-looking, dark-haired, +pink-eyed Fjeld-Finn. The name of the first was Balto; of the other, +Ravna. These two children of the mountains came to Christiania looking +dreadfully perplexed, with little of the heroic about them. For they +had agreed to accompany the expedition principally for the sake of the +good pay, and now learned for the first time that their lives might be +endangered. Nansen, however, managed to instil a little confidence into +them, and as was subsequently proved, they turned out to be useful and +reliable members of the expedition. Old Ravna, who was forty-five, was +a married man,--a fact Nansen did not know when he engaged him,--and +was possessed of great physical strength and powers of endurance. + +Nansen now had the lives of five persons beside his own on his +conscience. He would, therefore, make his equipment in such manner that +he should have nothing to reproach himself with in case anything went +wrong, a work that he conscientiously and carefully carried out. There +was not a single article or implement that was not scientifically and +practically discussed and tested, measured and weighed, before they +set out. Hand-sleighs and ski, boats and tent, cooking-utensils, +sleeping-bags, shoes and clothes, food and drink, all were of the +best kind; plenty of everything, but nothing superfluous--light, +yet strong, nourishing and strengthening. Everything, in fact, was +well thought over, and as was subsequently proved, the mistakes that +did occur were few and trifling. + +Nansen made most of the implements with his own hands, and nothing +came to pieces during the whole expedition saving a boat plank that +was crushed by the ice. + +But one thing Nansen omitted to take with him, and that was a supply +of spirituous liquor. It did not exist in his dictionary of sport. For +he had long entertained the opinion--an opinion very generally held +by the youth of Norway at the present day--that strong drink is a +foe to manly exploit, sapping and undermining man's physical and +mental powers. In former days, indeed, in Norway, as elsewhere, it +was considered manly to drink, but now the drinker is looked down on +with a pity akin to contempt. + +Thus equipped, these six venturesome men set out on their way; +first by steamer to Iceland, thence by the Jason, a sealer, Captain +Jacobsen its commander, who, as opportunity should offer, was to set +them ashore on the east coast of Greenland. And here, after struggling +for a month with the ice, they finally arrived, on July 19, so near +to the Sermilik Fjord that Nansen determined to leave the Jason and +make his way across the ice to land. The whole ship's crew were on +deck to bid them farewell. Nansen was in command of one of the two +boats, and when he gave the word "set off," they shot off from the +ship's side, while the Jason's two guns and a spontaneous hurrah from +sixty-four stalwart sailors' throats resounded far and wide over the +sea. As the boats worked their way into the ice, the Jason changed her +course, and ere long our six travellers watched the Norwegian flag, +waving like a distant tongue of fire, gradually fade from sight and +disappear among the mist and fog. + +These six men set out on their arduous journey with all the +indomitable fearlessness and disregard of danger that youth +inspires,--qualifications that would speedily be called into +requisition. + +Before many hours of toiling in the ice, the rain came down in +torrents, and the current drove them with irresistible force away from +the land, while ice-floes kept striking against their boats' sides, +threatening to crush or capsize them. A plank, indeed, in Nansen's +boat was broken by the concussion, and had to be instantly repaired, +the rain meanwhile pouring down a perfect deluge. They determined, +therefore, to drag the boats upon an ice-floe, and to pitch their tent +on it; and having done this they got into their sleeping-bags, the +deafening war of the raging storm in their ears. The two Fjeld-Lapps, +however, thinking their end was drawing near, sat with a dejected +air gazing in silence out over the sea. + +Far away in the distance the roar of the surge dashing against the +edge of the ice could be heard, while the steadily increasing swell +portended an approaching tempest. + +Next morning, July 20, Nansen was awakened by a violent concussion. The +ice-floe on which they were was rent asunder, and the current was +rapidly drifting them out toward the open sea. The roar of the surge +increased; the waves broke over the ice-floe on all sides. Balto and +Ravna lay crouching beneath a tarpaulin reading the New Testament +in Lappish, while the tears trickled down their cheeks; but out +on the floe Dietrichson and Kristiansen were making jokes as every +fresh wave dashed over them. Sverdrup was standing with hands folded +behind his back, chewing his quid, his eyes directed towards the sea, +as if in expectation. + +They are but a few hundred metres distant from the open sea, and soon +will have to take to the boats, or be washed off the floe. The swell +is so heavy that the floe ducks up and down like a boat in the trough +of the sea. So the order is given, "All hands turn in," for all their +strength will be needed, in the fierce struggle they will shortly +have to encounter. So they sleep on the very brink of death, the +roar of the storm their lullaby--Ravna and Balto in one of the boats, +Nansen and the others in the tent, where the water pours in and out. + +But there is one outside, on the floe. It is his watch. Hour by hour he +walks up and down, his hands behind his back. It is Sverdrup. Every now +and then he stands still, turns his sharp, thin face with the sea-blue +eyes towards the breakers, and then once more resumes his walk. + +The storm is raging outside, and the surge is dashing over the ice. He +goes to the boat where Ravna and Balto lie sleeping, and lays hold +of it, lest it should be swept away by the backwash. Then he goes +to the tent, undoes a hook, and again stands gazing over the sea; +then turns round, and resumes his walk as before. + +Their floe is now at the extreme edge of the ice, close to the open +sea. A huge crag of ice rises up like some white-clad threatening +monster, and the surf dashes furiously over the floe. Again the +man on the watch arrests his steps; he undoes another hook in the +tent. Matters are at their worst! He must arouse his comrades! He +is about to do so when he turns once more and gazes seaward. He +becomes aware of a new and strange motion in the floe beneath +him. Its course is suddenly changed; it is speeding swiftly away +from the open sea--inward, ever inward toward calm water, toward +life, toward safety. And as that bronze-faced man stands there, +a strange and serious look passes over his features. For that has +occurred,--that wondrous thing that he and many another sailor has +often experienced,--salvation from death without the mediation of human +agency. That moment was for him what the stormy night on the Hardanger +waste was to Nansen. It was like divine service! It was as if some +invisible hand had steered the floe, he said afterwards to Nansen. So +he rolled his quid round into the other cheek, stuck his hands in his +pockets; and hour after hour, till late in the morning, the steps of +that iron-hearted man on the watch might be heard pacing to and fro. + +When Nansen awoke, the floe was in safe shelter. + +Still for another week they kept drifting southward, the glaciers +and mountain ridges one after another disappearing from view--a +weary, comfortless time. Then, toward midnight on July 28, when it +was Sverdrup's watch again, he thought he could hear the sound of +breakers in the west. What it was he could not rightly make out; +he thought, perhaps, his senses deceived him; for, at other times, +the sound had always come from the east where the sea was. But next +morning, when it was Ravna's watch, Nansen was awakened by seeing +the Finn's grimy face peering at him through an opening in the tent. + +"Now, Ravna, what is it? can you see land?" he asked at a venture. + +"Yes--yes--land too close!" croaked Ravna, as he drew his head back. + +Nansen sprang out of the tent. Yes, there was the land, but a short +distance off; and the ice was loose so that a way could easily be +forced through it. In a twinkling all hands were busy; and a few +hours later Nansen planted his foot on the firm land of Greenland. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Journey across Greenland.--Meeting Esquimaux.--Reaching the West + Coast.--Return to Civilization and Home. + + +When Nansen and his companions, after their perilous adventures +in the drift-ice, landed with flags flying on their boats on the +east waste of Greenland, the first thing they did was to give vent +to their feelings in a ringing hurrah--a sound which those wild and +barren crags had never re-echoed before. Their joy, indeed, on feeling +firm ground beneath their feet once more baffles description. In a +word, they conducted themselves like a pack of schoolboys, singing, +laughing, and playing all manner of pranks. The Lapps, however, did +not partake in the general merriment, but took themselves off up the +mountain-side, where they remained several hours. + +But when their first ebullition of joy had somewhat subsided, Nansen +himself followed the example of the Lapps, and clambered up the slope +in order to get a good view over the landscape, leaving the others +to prepare the banquet they determined to indulge in that evening on +the sea-beach. And here he remained some little while, entranced with +the wondrous beauty of the scene. The sea and the ice stretched far +away to the east, shining like a belt of silver beneath him, while on +the west the mountain-tops were bathed in a flood of hazy sunshine, +and the inland ice, the "Sahara of the North," extended in a level +unbroken plain for miles and miles into the interior. + +A snow bunting perched on a stone close by him, and chirped a welcome; +a mosquito came humming through the air to greet the stranger, and +settled on his hand. He would not disturb it; it was a welcome from +home. It wanted his blood, and he let it take its fill. To the south +the grand outline of Cape Tordenskjold rose up in the horizon, its +name and form recalling his country to his mind; and there arose in +his breast an earnest desire, a deep longing, to sacrifice anything +and everything for his beloved "Old Norway." + +On rejoining his comrades, the feast was ready. It consisted of oatmeal +biscuits, Gruyere cheese, whortleberry jam, and chocolate; and there +is little doubt that these six adventurers "ate as one eats in the +springtime of youth." For it had been unanimously resolved that, +for this one day at least, they would enjoy themselves to the full; +on the morrow their daily fare would be, to eat little, sleep little, +and work as hard as possible. To-day, then, should be the first and +the last of such indulgence. Time was precious! + +On the next day, therefore, they resumed their northward journey, +along the east coast, fighting their way day and night, inch by inch, +foot by foot, through the drift-ice; at times in peril, at others +in safety; past Cape Adelaer, past Cape Garde, ever forward in one +incessant, monotonous struggle. And now they approached the ill-omened +Puisortok, of which Esquimaux and European seafarers had many an evil +tale to tell. There, it was said, masses of ice would either shoot up +suddenly from beneath the surface of the water, and crush any vessel +that ventured near, or would fall down from the overhanging height, +and overwhelm it. There not a word must be spoken! there must be no +laughing, no eating, no smoking, if one would pass it in safety! Above +all, the fatal name of Puisortok must not pass the lips, else the +glacier would be angry, and certain destruction ensue. + +Nansen, however, it may be said, did not observe these regulations, +and yet managed to pass it in safety. In his opinion there was nothing +very remarkable or terrible about it. + +But something else took place at Puisortok that surprised him and +his companions. + +On July 30, as they were preparing their midday meal, Nansen heard, +amid the shrill cries of the seabirds, a strange weird sound. What +it could be he could not conceive. It resembled the cry of a loon +more than anything else, and kept coming nearer and nearer. Through +his telescope, however, he discerned two dark specks among the +ice-floes, now close together, now a little apart, making straight +for them. They were human beings evidently--human beings in the midst +of that desert region of ice, which they had thought to be a barren, +uninhabited waste. Balto, too, watched their approach attentively, +with a half astonished, half uneasy look, for he believed them to be +supernatural beings. + +On came the strangers, one of them bending forward in his kayak [30] +as if bowing in salutation; and, on coming alongside the rock, they +crawled out of their kayaks and stood before Nansen and his companions +with bare heads, dressed in jackets and trousers of seal-skin, smiling, +and making all manner of friendly gestures. They were Esquimaux, and +had glass beads in their jet-black hair. Their skin was of a chestnut +hue, and their movements, if not altogether graceful, were attractive. + +On coming up to our travellers they began to ask questions in a strange +language, which, needless to say, was perfectly unintelligible. Nansen, +indeed, tried to talk to them in Esquimau from a conversation book +in that tongue he had with him, but it was perfectly useless. And +it was not till both parties had recourse to the language of signs +that Nansen was able to ascertain that they belonged to an Esquimau +encampment to the north of Puisortok. + +These two Esquimaux were good-natured looking little beings; and +now they began to examine the equipments of the travellers, and +taste their food, with which they seemed beyond measure pleased, +expressing their admiration at all they saw by a long-drawn kind +of bovine bellow. Finally they took leave, and set off northward in +their kayaks which they managed with wonderful dexterity, and soon +disappeared from sight. + +At six the same evening our travellers followed in the same +direction, and in a short time reached the Esquimau encampment at +Cape Bille. Long, however, before their eyes could detect any signs +of tents or of human beings, their sense of smell became aware of a +rank odor of train-oil, accompanied by a sound of voices; and they +presently saw numbers of Esquimaux standing on the sea-beach, and on +the rocks, earnestly watching the approach of the strangers. + +It was a picturesque sight that presented itself to the eyes of +our travellers. + +"All about the ledges of the rocks," writes Nansen, "stood long rows of +strangely wild, shaggy looking creatures, men, women and children--all +dressed in much the same scanty attire, staring and pointing at us, +and uttering the same cowlike sound we had heard in the forenoon. It +was just as if a whole herd of cows were lowing one against another, +as when the cowhouse door is opened in the morning to admit the +expected fodder." + +They were all smiling,--a smile indeed, is the only welcoming salute of +the Esquimaux,--all eager to help Nansen and his companions ashore, +chattering away incessantly in their own tongue, like a saucepan +boiling and bubbling over with words, not one of which, alas, could +Nansen or his companions understand. + +Presently Nansen was invited to enter one of their tents, in which +was an odor of such a remarkable nature, such a blending of several +ingredients, that a description thereof is impossible. It was the +smell, as it were, of a mixture of train-oil, human exhalations, +and the effluvium of fetid liquids all intimately mixed up together; +while men and women, lying on the floor round the fire, children +rolling about everywhere, dogs sniffing all around, helped to make +up a scene that was decidedly unique. + +All of the occupants were of a brownish-greyish hue, due mostly +to the non-application of soap and water, and were swarming with +vermin. All of them were shiny with train-oil, plump, laughing, +chattering creatures--in a word, presenting a picture of primitive +social life, in all its original blessedness. + +Nansen does not consider the Esquimaux, crosseyed and flat-featured +though they be, as by any means repulsive looking. The nose he +describes, in the case of children, "as a depression in the middle +of the face," the reverse ideal, indeed, of a European nose. + +On the whole he considers their plump, rounded forms to have a genial +appearance about them, and that the seal is the Esquimau prototype. + +The hospitality of these children of nature was boundless. They would +give away all they possessed, even to the shirt on their backs, +had they possessed such an article; and certainly showed extreme +gratitude when their liberality was reciprocated, evidently placing +a high value on empty biscuit-tins, for each time any of them got +one presented to him he would at once bellow forth his joy at the gift. + +But what especially seemed to attract their interest was when Nansen +and his companions began to undress, before turning in for the night +into their sleeping-bags; while to watch them creep out of the same +the next morning afforded them no less interest. They entertained, +however, a great dread of the camera, for every time Nansen turned +its dark glass eye upon them, a regular stampede would take place. + +Next day Nansen and the Esquimaux parted company, some of the latter +proceeding on their way to the south, others accompanying him on his +journey northward. The leavetaking between the Esquimaux was peculiar, +being celebrated by cramming their nostrils full of snuff from each +other's snuff-horns. Snuff indeed is the only benefit, or the reverse, +it seems the Esquimaux have derived from European civilization up +to date; and is such a favorite, one might say necessary, article +with them that they will go on a shopping expedition to the south to +procure it, a journey that often takes them four years to accomplish! + + + +The journey northward was an extremely fatiguing one, for they +encountered such stormy weather that their boats more than once +narrowly escaped being nipped in the ice. As a set-off, however, to +this, the scenery proved to be magnificent,--the floating mountains of +ice resembling enchanted castles, and all nature was on a stupendous +scale. Finally they reached a harbor on Griffenfeldt's Island, +where they enjoyed the first hot meal they had had on their coasting +expedition, consisting of caraway soup. This meal of soup was a great +comfort to the weary and worn-out travellers. Here a striking but +silent testimony of that severe and pitiless climate presented itself +in the form of a number of skulls and human bones lying blanched and +scattered among the rocks, evidently the remains of Esquimaux who in +times long gone by had perished from starvation. + +After an incredible amount of toil, Nansen arrived at a small island +in the entrance of the Inugsuazmuit Fjord, and thence proceeded to +Skjoldungen where the water was more open. Here they encamped, and +were almost eaten up by mosquitoes. + +On Aug. 6 they again set out on their way northward, meeting with +another encampment of Esquimaux, who were, however, so terrified at +the approach of the strangers, that they one and all bolted off to +the mountain, and it was not till Nansen presented them with an empty +tin box and some needles that they became reassured, after which they +accompanied the expedition for some little distance, and on parting +gave Nansen a quantity of dried seal's flesh. + +The farther our travellers proceeded on their journey, the more +dissatisfied and uneasy did Balto and Ravna become. Accordingly one +day Nansen took the opportunity of giving Balto a good scolding, +who with tears and sobs gave vent to his complaints, "They had not +had food enough--coffee only three times during the whole journey; +and they had to work harder than any beast the whole livelong day, +and he would gladly give many thousands of kroner to be safe at home +once more." + +There was indeed something in what Balto said. The fare had +unquestionably been somewhat scanty, and the work severe; and it was +evident that these children of nature, hardy though they were, could +not vie with civilized people when it became a question of endurance +for any length of time, and of risking life and taxing one's ability +to the utmost. + +Finally, on Aug. 10, the expedition reached Umivik in a dense fog, +after a very difficult journey through the ice, and encamped for the +last time on the east coast of Greenland. Here they boiled coffee, +shot a kind of snipe, and lived like gentlemen, so that even Balto +and Ravna were quite satisfied. The former, indeed, began intoning +some prayers, as he had heard the priest in Finmarken do, in a very +masterly manner,--a pastime, by the way, he never indulged in except +he felt his life to be quite safe. + +The next day, Aug. 11, rose gloriously bright. Far away among the +distant glaciers a rumbling sound as of cannon could be heard, while +snow-covered mountains towered high, overhead, on the other side +of which lay boundless tracts of inland ice. Nansen and Sverdrup +now made a reconnoitring expedition, and did not return till five +o'clock the next morning. It still required some days to overhaul +and get everything in complete order for their journey inland; and +it was not till nine o'clock in the evening of Aug. 16, after first +dragging up on land the boats, in which a few necessary articles of +food were stored, together with a brief account of the progress of +the expedition carefully packed in a tin box, that they commenced +their journey across the inland ice. + +Nansen and Sverdrup led the way with the large sleigh, while the +others, each dragging a smaller one, followed in their wake. Thus these +six men, confident of solving the problem before them, with the firm +earth beneath their feet, commenced the ascent of the mountain-slope +which Nansen christened "Nordenskjoeld's Nunatak." [31] + +Their work had now begun in real earnest--a work so severe and arduous +that it would require all the strength and powers of endurance they +possessed to accomplish it. The ice was full of fissures, and these +had either to be circumvented or crossed, a very difficult matter +with heavily laden sleighs. A covering of ice often lay over these +fissures, so that great caution was required. Hence their progress was +often very slow, each man being roped to his fellow; so that if one of +them should happen to disappear into one of these fathomless abysses, +his companion could haul him up. Such an occurrence happened more than +once; for Nansen as well as the others would every now and then fall +plump in up to the arms, dangling with his legs over empty space. But +it always turned out well; for powerful hands took hold of the rope, +and the practised gymnasts knew how to extricate themselves. + +At first the ascent was very hard work, and it will readily be +understood that the six tired men were not sorry on the first night +of their journey to crawl into their sleeping-bags, after first +refreshing the inner man with cup after cup of hot tea. + +Yet, notwithstanding all the fatigue they had undergone, there was so +much strength left in them that Dietrichson volunteered to go back and +fetch a piece of Gruyere cheese they had left behind when halting for +their midday meal. "It would be a nice little morning walk," he said, +"before turning in!" And he actually went--all for the sake of a +precious bit of cheese! + +Next day there was a pouring rain that wet them through. The work +of hauling the sleighs, however, kept them warm. But later in the +evening, it came down in such torrents that Nansen deemed it advisable +to pitch the tent, and here they remained, weather-bound, for three +whole days. And long days they were! But our travellers followed +the example of bruin in winter; that is, they lay under shelter the +greater part of the time, Nansen taking care that they should also +imitate bruin in another respect,--who sleeps sucking his paw,--by +giving them rations once a day only. "He who does no work shall have +little food," was his motto. + +On the forenoon of the twentieth, however, the weather improved; +and our travellers again set out on their journey, having first +indulged in a good warm meal by way of recompense for their three +days' fasting. The ice at first was very difficult, so much so that +they had to retrace their steps, and, sitting on their sleighs, +slide down the mountain slope. But the going improved, as also did +the weather. "If it would only freeze a little," sighed Nansen. But +he was to get enough of frost before long. + +On they tramped, under a broiling sun, over the slushy snow. As there +was no drinking-water to be had, they filled their flasks with snow, +carrying them in their breast-pockets for the heat of their bodies +to melt it. + +On Aug. 22 there was a night frost; the snow was hard and in good +condition, but the surface so rough and full of lumps and frozen waves +of slush, that the ropes with which they dragged the sleighs cut and +chafed their shoulders. "It was just as if our shoulders were being +burnt," Balto said. + +They now travelled mostly by night, for it was better going then, and +there was no sun to broil them; while the aurora borealis, bathing as +it were the whole of the frozen plain in a flood of silvery light, +inspired them with fresh courage. The surface of the ice over which +they travelled was as smooth and even as a lake newly frozen over. Even +Balto on such occasions would indulge in a few oaths, a thing he never +allowed himself except when he felt "master of the situation." He was +a Finn, you see, and perhaps had no other way of giving expression +to his feelings! + +As they got into higher altitudes the cold at night became more +intense. Occasionally they were overtaken by a snowstorm, when they +had to encamp in order to avoid being frozen to death; while at times, +again, the going would become so heavy in the fine drifting snow that +they had to drag their sleighs one by one, three or four men at a time +to each sleigh, an operation involving such tremendous exertion that +Kristiansen, a man of few words, on one such occasion said to Nansen, +"What fools people must be to let themselves in for work like this!" + +To give some idea of the intense cold they had to encounter it may +be stated that, at the highest altitude they reached,--9,272 feet +above the sea,--the temperature fell to below -49 deg. Fahrenheit, and +this, too, in the tent at night, the thermometer being under Nansen's +pillow. And all this toil and labor, be it remembered, went on from +Aug. 16 to the end of September, with sleighs weighing on an average +about two hundred and twenty pounds each, in drifting snow-dust, +worse than even the sandstorms of Sahara. + +In order to lighten their labor, Nansen resolved to use sails on the +sleighs--a proceeding which Balto highly disapproved of: "Such mad +people he had never seen before, to want to sail over the snow! He +was a Lapp, he was, and there was nothing they could teach him on +land. It was the greatest nonsense he had ever heard of!" + +Sails, however, were forthcoming, notwithstanding Balto's objections; +and they sat and stitched them with frozen fingers in the midst of +the snow. But it was astonishing what a help they proved to be; and +so they proceeded on their way, after slightly altering their course +in the direction of Godthaab. [32] + +Thus, then, we see these solitary beings, looking like dark spots +moving on an infinite expanse of snow, wending their way ever onward, +Nansen and Sverdrup side by side, ski-staff and ice-axe in hand, +in front, earnestly gazing ahead as they dragged the heavy sleigh, +while close behind followed Dietrichson and Kristiansen, Balto and +Ravna bringing up the rear, each dragging a smaller sleigh. So it +went on for weeks; and though it tried their strength, and put their +powers of endurance to a most severe test, yet, if ever the thought +of "giving it up" arose in their minds, it was at once scouted by all +the party, the two Lapps excepted. One day Balto complained loudly to +Nansen. "When you asked us," he said, "in Christiania, what weight we +could drag, we told you we could manage one hundredweight each, but +now we have double that weight, and all I can say is, that, if we can +drag these loads over to the west coast, we are stronger than horses." + +Onward, however, they went, in spite of the cold, which at times was +so intense that their beards froze fast to their jerseys, facing +blinding snowstorms that well-nigh made old Ravna desperate. The +only bright moments they enjoyed were when sleeping or at their +meals. The sleeping-bags, indeed, were a paradise; their meals, +ideals of perfect bliss. + +Unfortunately, Nansen had not taken a sufficient supply of fatty +food with him, and to such an extent did the craving for fat go, +that Sverdrup one day seriously suggested that they should eat +boot-grease--a compound of boiled grease and old linseed oil! Their +great luxury was to eat raw butter, and smoke a pipe after it. First +they would smoke the fragrant weed pure and simple; when that was +done, the tobacco ash, followed by the oil as long as it would burn; +and when this was all exhausted, they would smoke tarred yarn, +or anything else that was a bit tasty! Nansen, who neither smoked +nor chewed, would content himself with a chip of wood, or a sliver +off one of the "truger" (snowshoes). "It tasted good," he said, +"and kept his mouth moist." + +Finally, on Sept. 14, they had reached their highest altitude, and +now began to descend toward the coast, keeping a sharp lookout for +"land ahead." But none was yet to be seen, and one day Ravna's patience +completely gave way. With sobs and moans he said to Nansen,-- + +"I'm an old Fjeld-Lapp, and a silly old fool! I'm sure we shall never +get to the coast!" + +"Yes," was the curt answer, "it's quite true! Ravna is a silly +old fool!" + +One day, however, shortly afterward, while they were at dinner, +they heard the twittering of a bird close by. It was a snow-bunting, +bringing them a greeting from the west coast, and their hearts grew +warm within them at the welcome sound. + +On the next day, with sails set, they proceeded onward down the +sloping ground, but with only partial success. Nansen was standing +behind the large sleigh to steady it, while Sverdrup steered from +the front. Merrily flew the bark; but, unfortunately, Nansen stumbled +and fell, and had hard work to regain his legs, and harder work still +to gather up sundry articles that had fallen off the sleigh, such as +boxes of pemmican, fur jackets, and ice-axes. Meanwhile Sverdrup and +the ship had almost disappeared from view, and all that Nansen could +see of it was a dark, square speck, far ahead across the ice. Sverdrup +had been sitting all the while in front, thinking what an admirable +passage they were making, and was not a little astonished, on looking +behind, to find that he was the only passenger on board. Matters, +however, went on better after this; and in the afternoon, as they were +sailing their best and fastest, the joyful cry of "Land ahead!" rang +through the air. The west coast was in sight! After several days' +hard work across fissures and over uneven ice, the coast itself was +finally reached. But Godthaab was a long, long way off still, and to +reach it by land was sheer impossibility. + +The joy of our travellers on once more feeling firm ground beneath +their feet, and of getting real water to drink, was indescribable. They +swallowed quart after quart, till they could drink no more. The Lapps, +as usual took themselves off to the fjeld to testify their joy. + +That evening was the most delightful one they had experienced for +weeks, one never to be forgotten in after years, when, with their +tent pitched, and a blazing fire of wood, they sat beside it, Sverdrup +smoking a pipe of moss in lieu of tobacco, and Nansen lying on his back +on the grass, which shed a strange and delightful perfume all around. + +But how was Godthaab to be reached? By land it was +impossible! Therefore the journey must be made by sea! But there was +no boat! A boat, then, must be built. And Sverdrup and Nansen were the +men to solve the problem. They set to work, and by evening the boat +was finished. Its dimensions were eight feet five inches in length, +four feet eight inches in breadth, and it was made of willows and +sail-cloth. The oars were of bamboo and willow branches, across the +blades of which canvas was stretched. The thwarts were made from +bamboo, and the foot of one of their scientific instruments which, +by the way, chafed them terribly, and were very uncomfortable seats. + +All preparations being now made, Nansen and Sverdrup set off on +their adventurous journey. The first day it was terribly hard work, +for the water was too shallow to admit of rowing. On the second day, +however, they put out to sea. Here they had at times to encounter +severe weather, fearing every moment lest their frail bark should be +swamped or capsized. At night they would sleep on the naked shore +beneath the open sky. From morning till night struggling away with +their oars, living on hot soup and the sea-birds they shot, which were +ravenously devoured without much labor being devoted to cooking the +same. Finally they reached their destination, meeting with a hearty +welcome, accompanied by a salute from cannon fired off in their honor, +when once it was ascertained who the new arrivals were. + +Nansen's first inquiry was about a ship for Denmark, and he learned, +to his great disappointment, that the last vessel for the season had +sailed from Godthaab two months before, and that the nearest ship, +the Fox, was lying at Ivitgut, three hundred miles off. + +It was a terrible blow in the midst of their joy. Home had, as it +were, at one stroke receded many hundreds of miles away; and here +they would have to pass a whole winter and spring, while dear ones at +home would think they had perished, and would be mourning for their +supposed loss all those weary months. + +But this must never be! The Fox must be got at, and friends at home +must at all events get letters by her. + +After a great deal of trouble Nansen at length found an Esquimau who +agreed to set off in his kayak bearing two letters. One was from +Nansen to Gamel, who had equipped the expedition; the other from +Sverdrup to his father. + +This having been arranged, and boats having been sent off to fetch +their comrades from Ameralikfjord, Nansen and Sverdrup plunged into +all the joys and delights of civilized life to which they had so long +been strangers. Now they were able to indulge in the luxury of soap +and water for the first time since the commencement of their journey +across the ice. To change their clothes, to sleep in proper beds, +to eat civilized food with knives and forks on earthenware plates, +to smoke, to converse with educated beings, was to them the summum +bonum of enjoyment, and they felt themselves to be in clover. + +Notwithstanding all these, Nansen did not seem altogether +himself. He was in a dreamy state, thinking perhaps of nights spent +in sleeping-bags up on the inland ice, or dreaming of that memorable +evening in the Ameralikfjord, of the hard struggles they had undergone +on the boundless plains of snow. These things flashed across him, +excluding from his mind the conviction that he had rendered his +name famous. + +At last, on Oct. 12, the other members of the expedition joined +them, and these six men, who had risked their lives in that perilous +adventure, were once more assembled together. + +His object had been attained, and the name of Fridtjof Nansen would +soon be known the whole world over! + +That same autumn the Fox brought to Norway tidings of the success +of the expedition, and a few hours after her arrival the telegraph +announced throughout the length and breadth of the civilized world, +in few but significant words, "Fridtjof Nansen has crossed over the +inland ice of Greenland." + +And the Norwegian nation, which had refused to grant the venturesome +young man 5,000 kroner ($1,350), now raised her head, and called +Fridtjof Nansen one of her best sons. And when one day in April, +after having spent a long winter in Greenland, he went on board the +Hvidbjoern [33] on his homeward journey, preparations were being made +in the capital for a festival such as a king receives when he visits +his subjects. + +It was May 30: the spring sun was shining with all its brilliancy +over Norway. The Christiania fjord was teeming with yachts and small +sailing-boats. A light breeze played over the ruffled surface of the +water, while the perfume of the budding trees on its banks shed a +sweet fragrance all around. As for the town, it literally swarmed with +human beings. The quays, the fortress, the very roofs of the houses, +were densely packed with eager crowds, all of them intently gazing +seaward. Presently a shout of welcome heard faintly in the distance +announced his approach, gradually increasing in volume as he came +nearer, till it merged into one continuous roar, while thousands of +flags were waving overhead. + +Eagerly the crowds pressed forward to catch the first glimpse of his +form, and when they did recognize him, their hurrahs burst forth like +a storm, and were caught up in the streets, answered from the windows, +from the tops of houses; and when they ceased for a moment from the +sheer exhaustion of those who uttered them, they were soon renewed +with redoubled vigor. And when finally Nansen had disembarked and +had entered a carriage, the police could no longer keep the people +under control. As if with one accord they dashed forward, and taking +out the horses, harnessed themselves in their place, and dragged him +through the streets of the city in triumph. + +Yes, the Norwegian people had taken possession of Fridtjof Nansen! + +But up at a window there stood the old housekeeper from Store Froeen, +waving her white apron, while tears of joy trickled down her face. She +it was who had bound up his bleeding head when years ago he had fallen +and cut it on the ice; she it was to whom he had often gone when in +some childish scrape. He remembered her in his hour of triumph. And +as she was laughing and crying by turns, and waving her apron, he +dashed up the steps and gave her a loving embrace. + +For was she not part and parcel of his home? + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Engagement and Marriage.--Home-Life.--Planning the Polar + Expedition. + + +Two months after Nansen had returned home from his Greenland expedition +he became engaged to Eva Sars, daughter of the late Professor Sars, +and was married to her the same autumn. Her mother was the sister of +the poet Welhaven. + +The following story of his engagement is related:-- + +"On the night of Aug. 12 a shower of gravel and small pebbles rattled +against the panes of a window in the house where Fridtjof Nansen's +half-sister lived. He was very fond of her, and of her husband also, +who had indeed initiated him in the use of gun and rod, and who had +taken him with him, when a mere lad, on many a sporting excursion +to Nordmarken. + +"On hearing this unusual noise at the dead of night, his brother-in-law +jumped out of bed in no very amiable frame of mind, and opening the +window, called out, 'What is it?' + +"'I want to come in!' said a tall figure dressed in gray, from the +street below. + +"A volley of expletives greeted the nocturnal visitor, who kept on +saying, 'I want to come in.' + +"Before long Fridtjof Nansen was standing in his sister's bedroom at +two o'clock in the morning. + +"Raising herself up in the bed, she said, 'But, Fridtjof, whatever +is it?' + +"'I'm engaged to be married--that's all!' was the laconic reply. + +"'Engaged! But with whom?' + +"'Why, with Eva, of course!' + +"Then he said he felt very hungry, and his brother-in-law had to take +a journey into the larder and fetch out some cold meat, and then down +into the cellar after a bottle of champagne. His sister's bed served +for a table, and a new chapter in 'Fridtjof's saga' was inaugurated +at this nocturnal banquet." + +The story goes, Nansen first met his future wife in a snowdrift. One +day, it appears, when up in the Frogner woods, he espied two little +boots sticking up out of the snow. Curiosity prompted him to go and see +to whom the said boots belonged, and as he approached for that purpose, +a little snow be-sprinkled head peered up at him. It was Eva Sars! + +What gives this anecdote interest is that it was out of the snow and +the cold to which he was to dedicate his life, she, who became dearer +to him than life itself, first appeared. + +Another circumstance connected therewith worthy of note is that +Eva Sars was a person of rather a cold and repellent nature, and +gave one the impression that there was a good deal of snow in her +disposition. Hence the reason perhaps why she kept aloof rather +than attracted those who would know her. Fridtjof Nansen, however, +was not the man to be deterred by coldness. He was determined to win +her, even if he should have to cross the inland ice of Greenland for +that purpose. + +But when she became his wife all the reserve and coldness of her nature +disappeared. She took the warmest interest in his plans, participated +in his work, making every sacrifice a woman can make to promote his +purpose. In all his excursions in the open air she accompanied him; and +when she knew that he was making preparations for another expedition, +one involving life itself, not a murmur escaped her lips. And when +the hour of parting came at last, and a long, lonely time of waiting +lay before her, she broke out into song. For in those dreary years of +hope deferred she developed into an accomplished songstress; and when +the fame of Nansen's exploit resounded throughout the whole north, +the echo of her song answered in joyful acclaim. The maidens of +Norway listening to her spirited strains, and beholding this brave +little woman with her proudly uplifted head, learnt from Eva Nansen +that such was the way in which a woman should meet a sorrow--such +the way in which she should undergo a time of trial. + +The following story, in Nansen's own words, will serve to give an +idea of the sort of woman she was: + +"It was New Year's Eve, 1890. Eva and I had gone on a little trip to +Kroederen, [34] and we determined to get to the top of Norefjeld. "We +slept at Olberg, and, feeling rather lazy next morning, did not +set out till nearly noon. We took it very easily, moreover! Even in +summer-time it is a stiff day's work to clamber up Norefjeld; but +in winter, when the days are short, one has to look pretty sharp to +reach the top while it is light. Moreover, the route we chose, though +perhaps the most direct, was not by any means the shortest. The snow +lay very deep; and soon it became impossible to go on ski, the ascent +being so steep, that we had to take them off and carry them. However, +we had made up our minds to reach the top; for it would never do to +turn back after having gone half-way, difficult though the ascent +might be. The last part of our journey was the most trying of all; +I had to cut out steps with my ski-staff to get a foothold in the +frozen snow. I went in front, and Eva followed close behind me. It +really seemed that we slipped two steps backward for every one we took +forward. At last we reached the top; it was pitch dark, and we had been +going from ten A.M. to five P.M., without food. But, thank goodness, +we had some cheese and pemmican with us, so we sat down on the snow, +and ate it. + +"Yes! there were we two alone on the top of Norefjeld, five thousand +feet above the sea, with a biting wind blowing that made our cheeks +tingle, and the darkness growing thicker and thicker every moment. Far +away in the west there was a faint glimmer of daylight,--of the +last day of the old year,--just enough to guide us by. The next +thing to be done was to get down to Eggedal. From where we were it +was a distance of about six and one-half miles, a matter of little +consequence in broad daylight, but in the present instance no joke, +I can assure you! However, it had to be done. So off we started, +I leading the way, Eva following. + +"We went like the wind down the slope, but had to be very careful. When +one has been out in the dark some little time, it is just as if the +snow gives out a faint light--though light it cannot really be termed, +but a feeble kind of shimmer. Goodness only knows how we managed to +get down, but get down we did! As it was too steep to go on ski, there +was nothing for it but to squat and slide down--a kind of locomotion +detrimental, perhaps, to one's breeches, but under the circumstances +unquestionably the safest mode of proceeding in the dark! + +"When we had got half-way down my hat blew off. So I had to 'put the +brake on,' and get up on my legs, and go after it. Far away above +me I got a glimpse of a dark object on the snow, crawled after it, +got up to it, and grasped it, to find it was only a stone! My hat, +then, must be further up. Surely that was it--again I got hold of a +stone! The snow seemed to be alive with stones. Hat after hat, hat +after hat, but whenever I tried to put it on my head, it turned out +to be a stone. A stone for bread is bad enough, and stones for hats +are not a bit better! So I had to give it up, and go hatless. + +"Eva had been sitting waiting for me all this while. 'Eva,' I shouted, +and a faint answer came back from below. + +"Those miles seemed to be uncommonly long ones. Every now and then +we could use our ski, and then it would become so steep again that +we had to carry them. At last we came to a standstill. There was +a chasm right in front of us,--how deep it was it was too dark to +ascertain. However, we bundled over it somehow or other, and happily +the snow was very deep. It is quite incredible how one can manage to +get over a difficulty! + +"As regards our direction, we had lost it completely; all we knew was +that we must get down into the valley. Again we came to a standstill, +and Eva had to wait while I went on, groping in the dark, trying to +find a way. I was absent on this errand some little time. Presently +it occurred to me, 'What if she should have fallen asleep!' + +"'Eva!' I shouted, 'Eva!' Yes, she answered; but she must be a long +way above where I was. If she had been asleep it would have been a +difficult matter to have found her. But I groped my way up-hill to +her, with the consolation that I had found the bed of a stream. Now +the bed of a stream is not very well adapted for ski, especially when +it is pitch dark, and the stomach is empty, and conscience pricks +you,--for really I ought not to have ventured on such an expedition +with her. However, 'all's well that ends well,' and we got through +all right. + +"We had now got down to the birch scrub, and at last found our road. + +"After some little time we passed a cabin. I thought it wouldn't +be a bad place to take refuge in, but Eva said it was so horribly +dirty! She was full of spirits now, and voted for going on. So +on we went, and in due time reached the parish clerk's house in +Eggedal. Of course the inmates were in bed, so we had to arouse +them. The clerk was horrified when I told him we had just come from +the top of Norefjeld. This time Eva was not so nice about lodgings, +for no sooner had she sat down on a chair, than she fell asleep. It +was midnight, mind you, and she had been in harness fourteen hours. + +"'He's a bit tired, poor lad!' said the clerk. For Eva had on a +ski-dress with a very small skirt, trousers, and a Lapp fur cloak. + +"'That's my wife,' I replied, whereupon he burst out into a +laugh. 'Nay, nay! to drag his wife with him over the top of Norefjeld +on New Year's Eve!' he said. + +"Presently he brought in something to eat, for we were famished; +and when Eva smelt it wasn't cheese and pemmican, she woke up. + +"We rested here three days. Yes, it had been a New Year's Eve trip. A +very agreeable one in my opinion, but I'm not so sure Eva altogether +agreed with me! + +"Two days later I and the 'poor little lad' drove through Numedal to +Kongsberg in nine degrees below zero (Fahrenheit), which nearly froze +the little fellow. But it is not a bad thing occasionally to have to +put up with some inconveniences--you appreciate comforts afterward +so much the more. He who has never experienced what cold is, does +not really know the meaning of warmth!" + + + +The day after the wedding the newly married pair set out for +Newcastle, where there was to be a meeting of the Geographical Society, +travelling via Gothenburg, Hamburg, and London. After this they went +to Stockholm, and here Nansen was presented with the "Vega" medal by +His Majesty. This was a distinguished honor, the more so as it had +hitherto only been awarded to five persons, among whom were Stanley +and Nordenskjoeld. Nansen subsequently was presented with several +medals in foreign countries, and was made a Knight of the Order of +St. Olaf and Danebrog. + +On their return from Stockholm to Norway, Nansen and his wife took +apartments at Marte Larsen's, the old housekeeper at Store Froeen, and +stayed there two months, after which they took a house on the Drammen +road. But they did not enjoy themselves there, and Nansen determined +to build a house, for which purpose he bought a site at Svartebugta, +near Lysaker. [35] It was here that, as a boy, he had often watched for +wild ducks. It was a charming spot, moreover, and within easy distance +of the town. The house was finished in the spring of 1890. During +the whole of the winter, while building operations were going on, +they lived in an icy cold pavillion near Lysaker railway station. + +"It was here he weaned me from freezing," says Eva Nansen. + +In this wretched habitation, where the water froze in the bedroom at +night, Nansen would sit and work at his book on Greenland, and when +he had time would superintend the building of the new house. It was +called "Godthaab"--a name given it by Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson. + +In the autumn of this year Nansen set out on a lengthened lecturing +tour, accompanied by his wife. He lectured in Copenhagen, London, +Berlin, and Dresden, about his Greenland experiences, and also about +the projected expedition to the North Pole. Everywhere people were +attracted by his captivating individuality; but most thought this +new expedition too venturesome. Even the most experienced Arctic +explorers shook their heads, for they thought that, from such a +daring enterprise, not a single member of the expedition would ever +return alive. + +But Nansen adhered to his own opinions, and we see him in the +intervening years occupied with the equipment required for an +expedition to the polar regions--a work so stupendous that the +preparations for the Greenland expedition were but child's play +in comparison. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Preparations for the Polar Expedition.--Starting from + Norway.--Journey along the Siberian Coast. + + +Nansen's theory as regards the expedition to the North Pole was +as simple as it was daring. He believed that he had discovered the +existence of a current passing over the pole, and of this he would +avail himself. His idea, in fact, was to work his way into the ice +among the New Siberian Islands, let his vessel be fast frozen into +the drift-ice, and be carried by the current over the Pole to the +east coast of Greenland. There articles had been found on ice-floes +that had unquestionably belonged to former Arctic expeditions, a fact +that convinced him of the existence of such a current. + +It might take some years for a vessel to drift all that way; he must, +therefore, make his preparations accordingly. Such at all events +was Nansen's theory--a theory which, it must be said, few shared +with him. For none of the world's noted explorers of those regions +believed in the existence of such a current, and people generally +termed the scheme, "a madman's idea!" + +Nansen, therefore, stood almost alone in this, and yet not altogether +alone, either. For the Norwegian people who would not sacrifice $1,350 +for the Greenland expedition gave him now in a lump sum 280,000 kroner +($75,600). They were convinced of his gigantic powers, and when the +Norwegians are fully convinced of a thing, they are willing to make +any sacrifice to carry it out. They believed in him now! + +Nansen then set to work in earnest at his gigantic undertaking. + +First of all a vessel must be designed,--one that would be able to +defy the ice. Availing himself, therefore, of the services of the +famous shipbuilder, Colin Archer, he had the Fram [36] built--a name +suggestive of noble achievements to the youth of Norway. + +On Oct. 26, 1892, she was launched at Laurvig. During the previous +night the temperature had been fourteen degrees above zero, and a +slight sprinkling of snow had covered valley and height with a thin +veil of white. The morning sun peered through the mist with that +peculiar hazy light that foretells a bright winter day. + +At the station at Laurvig, Nansen waited to receive his guests. A +whaler, with a crow's-nest on her foretop, was lying in the harbor, to +convey the visitors to the spot where the Fram was lying on the stocks. + +In the bay at Reykjavik the huge hull of a vessel may be seen raised up +on the beach, with her stern toward the sea. It is Fridtjof Nansen's +new ship that is now to be launched. She is a high vessel, of great +beam, painted black below and white above. Three stout masts of +American pitch-pine are lying by her side on the quay, while three +flagstaffs, two of them only with flags flying, rear themselves up +aloft on her deck. The flag which is to be run up the bare staff is +to bear the vessel's name--unknown as yet. Everybody is wondering +what that name will be, and conjectures whether it will be Eva, Leif, +Norway, Northpole, are rife. + +Crowds of spectators are assembled at the wharf, while as many have +clambered upon the adjacent rocks. But around the huge ship, which +lies on the slips firmly secured with iron chains, are standing groups +of stalwart, weather-beaten men in working attire. They are whalers, +who for years have frequented the polar seas and braved its dangers, +and are now attentively examining and criticising the new ship's +construction. A goodly number, too, of workmen are there,--the men +who built the ship; and they are looking at their work with feelings +of pride. And yonder is the vessel's architect,--that stately, +earnest-looking man with the long, flowing white beard,--Colin Archer. + +And now, accompanied by his wife, Nansen ascends the platform that has +been erected in the ship's bow. Mrs. Nansen steps forward, breaks a +bottle of champagne on the prow, and in clear, ringing tones declares, +"Fram is her name." At the same moment a flag on which the vessel's +name can be read in white letters on a red ground, is run up to the +top of the bare flagstaff. + +The last bands and chains are quickly removed, and the ponderous mass +glides, stern first, slowly down the incline, but with ever-increasing +velocity, toward the water. For a moment some anxiety is felt lest +she should sink or get wedged; but as soon as her bows touch the +water the stern rises up, and the Fram floats proudly on the sea, +and is then at once moored fast with warps to the quay. + +Meanwhile Nansen stood beside his wife, and all eyes turned toward +them. But not a trace of anxiety or doubt could be discerned on his +frank and open countenance; for he possessed that faith in his project +that is able to remove mountains. + +The next matter of importance was to select the crew. There was +ample material to choose from, for hundreds of volunteers from +abroad offered themselves, besides Norwegians. But it was a Norwegian +expedition--her crew, then, must be exclusively a national crew! And so +Otto Sverdrup, who had earned his laurels in the Greenland expedition; +Sigurd Scott-Hansen, first lieutenant in the royal navy; Henrik Greve +Blessing, surgeon; Theodor Claudius Jacobsen and Adolf Juell of the +mercantile marine; Anton Amundsen and Lars Petterson, engineers; +Frederik Hjalmar Johansen, lieutenant of the royal army reserve, +Peter Leonard Henriksen, harpooner; Bernt Nordahl, electrician; Ivar +Otto Irgens Mogstad, head keeper at the lunatic asylum; and Bernt +Berntsen, common sailor,--were selected. Most of them were married +and had children. + +Sverdrup was to be the Fram's commander, for Nansen knew that the +ship would be safer in his hands than in his own. + +Finally, after an incredible deal of hard work in getting everything +in order, the day of their departure arrived. + +It was midsummer--a dull, gloomy day. The Fram, heavily laden, is +lying at Pipperviken Quay, waiting for Nansen. The appointed hour is +past, and yet there are no signs of him. Members of the storthing, +who had assembled there to bid him farewell, can wait no longer, +and the crowds of people that line the quay are one and all anxiously +gazing over the fjord. + +But presently a quick-sailing little petroleum boat heaves in sight. It +swings round Dyna, [37] and quickly lies alongside the Fram; and +Nansen goes on board his ship at once, and gives the order to "go +ahead." Every eye is fixed on him. He is as calm as ever, firm as a +rock, but his face is pale. + +The anchor is weighed; and after making the tour of the little creek, +the Fram steams down the fjord. "Full speed" is the command issued +from the bridge; and as she proceeds on her way, Nansen turns round to +take a farewell look over Svartebugta where Godthaab lies. He discerns +a glimpse of a woman's form dressed in white by the bench under the +fir-tree, and then turns his face away; it was there he had bidden her +farewell. Little Liv, his only child, had been carried by her mother, +crowing and smiling, to bid father good-by, and he had taken her in +his arms. + +"Yes, you smile, little one!" he said; "but I"--and he sobbed. + +This had taken place but an hour before. And now he was standing on +the bridge alone, leaving all he held dear behind. + +The twelve men who accompanied him,--they, too, had made +sacrifices,--each had his own sorrow to meet at this hour; but at +the word of command, one and all went about their duty as if nothing +was amiss. + +For the first few days it was fine weather, but on getting out as far +as Lindesnaes [38] it became very stormy. The ship rolled like a log, +and seas broke over the rails on both sides. Great fear was entertained +lest the deck cargo should be carried overboard, a contingency, indeed, +that soon occurred; for twenty-five empty paraffin casks broke loose +from their lashings, and a quantity of reserve timber balks followed. + +"It was an anxious time," says Nansen. "Seasick I stood on the bridge, +alternately offering libations to the gods of the sea, and trembling +for the safety of the boats and of the men who were trying to make +snug what they could on deck. Now a green sea poured over us, and +knocked one fellow off his legs so that he was deluged; now the +lads were jumping over hurtling spars to avoid getting their feet +crushed. There was not a dry thread on them. Juell was lying asleep +in the 'Grand Hotel,' as we called one of the long boats, and awoke +to find the sea roaring under him. I met him at the cabin door as he +came running down. Once the Fram buried her bows and shipped a sea +over the forecastle. One fellow was clinging to the anchor davits +over the foaming water; it was poor Juell again." + +Then all the casks, besides a quantity of timber, had to be thrown +overboard. It was, indeed, an anxious time. + +But fine weather came at last, and Bergen turned out to meet them +in brilliant sunshine. Then on again, along the wonderful coast of +Norway, while the people on shore stood gazing after them, marvelling +as they passed. + +At Beian [39] Sverdrup joined the ship, and Berntsen, the thirteenth +member of the crew, at Tromsoe. [40] + +Still onward toward the north, till finally the last glimpse of +their native country faded from their sight in the hazy horizon, +and a dense fog coming on enveloped them in its shroud. They were to +have met the Urania, laden with coal, in Jugor straits; but as that +vessel had not arrived, and time was precious, the Fram proceeded on +her course, after having shipped a number of Esquimau dogs which a +Russian, named Trontheim, had been commissioned to procure for the +expedition. It was here that Nansen took leave of his secretary, +Cristophersen, who was to return by the Urania; and the last tie that +united them with Norway was severed. + +The Fram now heads out from the Jugor straits into the dreaded Kara +sea, which many had prophesied would be her destruction. But they +worked their way through storm and ice, at times satisfactorily, at +others encountering slight mishaps; but the Fram proved herself to be +a reliable iceworthy vessel, and Nansen felt more and more convinced +that, when the ice-pressure began in real earnest, she would acquit +herself well. + +"It was a royal pleasure," he writes, "to take her into difficult +ice. She twists and turns like a ball on a plate--and so strong! If +she runs into a floe at full speed, she scarcely utters a sound, +only quivers a little, perhaps." + +When, as was often the case, they had to anchor on account of bad +weather, Nansen and his companions would go ashore, either for the +purpose of taking observations or for sport. One day they shot two +bears and sundry reindeer; but, when they started to row back to +the Fram in the evening, they had a severe task before them. For +a strong breeze was blowing, and the current was dead against +them. "We rowed as if our finger-tips would burst," says Nansen, +"but could hardly make any headway. So we had to go in under land +again to get out of the current. But no sooner did we set out for +the Fram again than we got into it once more, and then the whole +manoeuvre had to be repeated, with the same result. Presently a buoy +was lowered from the ship: if we could only reach it, all would be +right. But no such luck was in store for us yet. We would make one +more desperate effort, and we rowed with a will, every muscle of our +bodies strained to the utmost. But to our vexation we now saw the +buoy being hauled up. We rowed a little to the windward of the Fram, +and then tried again to sheer over. This time we got nearer her than +we had been before, but still no buoy was thrown over--not even a +man was to be seen on deck. We roared like madmen," writes Nansen, +"for a buoy--we had no strength left for another attempt. It was +not a pleasing prospect to have to drift back, and go ashore again +in our wet clothes,--we would get on board! Once more we yelled like +wild Indians, and now they came rushing aft, and threw out the buoy +in our direction. We put our last strength into our oars. There were +only a few boat-lengths to cover, and the lads bent flat over the +thwarts. Now only three boat-lengths. Another desperate spurt! Now +only two and a half boat-lengths--presently two--then only one! A few +more frantic pulls, and there was a little less. 'Now, my lads, one +or two more hard pulls--keep to it!--Now another--don't give in--one +more--there we have it!' And a joyful sigh of relief passed round the +boat. 'Keep her going, or the rope will break--row, my lads!' And row +we did, and soon they had hauled us alongside the Fram. Not till we +were lying there, getting our bearskins and flesh hauled on board, +did we realize what we had had to fight against. The current was +running along the side of the ship like a millstream. At last we were +on board. It was evening by this time, and it was a comfort to get some +hot food, and then stretch one's limbs in a comfortable, dry berth." + +The Fram proceeded on her course the next day, passing a number +of unknown islands, to which Nansen gave names. Among these were +Scott-Hansen's Islands, Ringnes, Mohns, etc. + +On Sept. 6, the anniversary of Nansen's wedding, they passed Taimar +Island, and after a prosperous passage through open water reached +Cape Tscheljuskin on Sept. 9. + +Nansen was sitting in the crow's nest that evening. The weather was +perfectly still, and the sky lay in a dream of gold and yellow. A +solitary star was visible; it stood directly over Cape Tscheljuskin, +twinkling brightly, though sadly, in the pale sky overhead. As the +vessel proceeded on her course it seemed to follow them. There was +something about that star that attracted Nansen's attention, and +brought him peace. It was as it were his star, and he felt that she who +was at home was sending him a message by it. Meanwhile the Fram toiled +on through the gloomy melancholy of the night out into the unknown. + +In the morning, when the sun rose up, a salute was fired, and high +festival held on board. + +A few days later a herd of walrus was sighted. It was a lovely +morning, and perfectly calm, so that they could distinctly hear their +bellowings over the clear surface of the water, as they lay in a +heap on an ice-floe, the blue mountains glittering in the sunlight +in the background. + +"My goodness, what a lot of meat!" ejaculated Juell, the cook. And at +once Nansen, Juell, and Henriksen set out after them, Juell rowing, +Nansen armed with a gun, and Henriksen with a harpoon. On getting to +close quarters Henriksen threw the harpoon at the nearest walrus, +but it struck too high, and glanced off the tough hide, and went +skipping over the rounded backs of the others. Now all was stir +and life. Ten or a dozen of the bulky animals waddled with upraised +heads to the extreme edge of the floe, whereupon Nansen took aim at +the largest, and fired. The brute staggered, and fell headlong into +the water. Another bullet into a second walrus was attended with +the same result, and the rest of the herd plunged into the water, +so that it boiled and seethed. Soon, however, they were up again, +all around the boat, standing upright in the water, bellowing and +roaring till the air shook. Every now and then they would make a dash +toward the boat, then dive, and come up again. The sea boiled like +a cauldron, and every moment they seemed about to dash their tusks +through the side of the boat, and capsize it. Fortunately, however, +this did not occur. Walrus after walrus was shot by Nansen, while +Henriksen was busy with his harpoon to prevent them sinking. + +At last, after a favorable journey through open water, the Fram finally +reached firm ice on Sept. 25, and allowed herself to be frozen in; +for winter was fast approaching, and it was no longer possible to +drive her through the ice. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Drifting Through the Ice.--Christmas.--Daily Life on the + Fram.--Bear-Hunt and Ice-Pressure. + + +From Sept. 26 the Fram lay frozen in in the drift-ice, and many a +long day would pass ere she would be loose again. Nansen's theory of +a current over the North Pole would now be proved to be correct or +the reverse. + +It was a monotonous time that was approaching for the men on board. At +first they drifted but very little northward, each succeeding day +bringing but little alteration; but they kept a good heart, for they +had not to suffer from lack of anything that could conduce to their +comfort. They had a good ship, excellently equipped, and so passed +the days as best they could,--now occupying themselves with seeing +to the dogs or taking observations, etc.; while reading, playing +cards, chess, halma, and making all kinds of implements, filled up +the remainder of their time. Every now and then the monotony of their +existence would undergo variation, when the ice-pressure set in. Then +there was plenty of life and stir on board, and all hands would turn +out to do battle with the foe. + +It was on Monday, Oct. 9, that the Fram underwent her first experience +of a regular ice-pressure. Nansen and the others were sitting after +dinner, as usual, chatting about one thing and another, when all at +once a deafening sound was heard, and the ship quivered from stem to +stern. Up they rushed on deck; for now the Fram was to be put to the +test--and gloriously she passed through it! When the ice nipped she +lifted herself up, as if raised by invisible hands, and pushed the +floes down below her. + +An ice-pressure is a most wonderful thing. Let us hear what Nansen +says of it:-- + +"It begins with a gentle crack and moan along the ship's sides, +gradually sounding louder in every conceivable key. Now it is a high +plaintive tone, now it is a grumble, now it is a snarl, and the ship +gives a start up. Steadily the noise increases till it is like all the +pipes of an organ; the ship trembles and shakes, and rises by fits and +starts, or is gently lifted up. But presently the uproar slackens, and +the ship sinks down into her old position again, as if in a safe bed." + +But woe to them who have not such a ship to resort to under a pressure +like this; for when once it begins in real earnest, it is as if there +could not be a spot on the earth's surface that would not tremble +and shake. + +"First," says Nansen, "you hear a sound like the thundering rumble +of an earthquake far away on the great waste; then you hear it in +several places, always coming nearer and nearer. The silent ice +world re-echoes with thunders; nature's giants are awakening to +the battle. The ice cracks on every side of you, and begins to pile +itself up in heaps. There are howlings and thunderings around you; +you feel the ice trembling, and hear it rumbling under your feet. In +the semi-darkness you can see it piling and tossing itself up into +high ridges,--floes ten, twelve, fifteen feet thick, broken and flung +up on the top of each other,--you jump away to save your life. But the +ice splits in front of you; a black gulf opens, and the water streams +up. You turn in another direction; but there through the dark you can +just see a new ridge of moving ice-blocks coming toward you. You try +another direction, but there it is just the same. All around there is +thundering and roaring, as of some enormous waterfall with explosions +like cannon salvoes. Still nearer you it comes. The floe you are +standing on gets smaller and smaller; water pours over it; there can +be no escape except by scrambling over the ice-blocks to get to the +other side of the pack. But little by little the disturbance calms down +again, and the noise passes on and is lost by degrees in the distance." + +Another thing brought life and stir into the camp, viz., "bears." And +many a time the cry of "bears" was heard in those icy plains. + +In Farthest North, Nansen describes a number of amusing incidents +with these animals. We must, however, content ourselves with giving +only a brief sketch of some of the most interesting of these. + +Nansen and Sverdrup, and indeed several of the others, had shot polar +bears before; but some of their number were novices in the sport, +among whom were Blessing, Johansen and Scott-Hansen. One day, when +the latter were taking observations a short distance from the ship, a +bear was seen but a little way off--in fact, just in front of the Fram. + +"Hush! don't make a noise, or we shall frighten him," said Hansen; +and they all crouched down to watch him. + +"I think I'd better slip off on board and tell them about it," said +Blessing. And off he started on tiptoe, so as not to alarm the bear. + +The beast meanwhile came sniffing and shambling along toward where +they were, so that evidently he had not been frightened. + +Catching sight of Blessing, who was slinking off to the ship, the +brute made straight for him. + +Blessing, seeing that the bear was by no means alarmed, now made his +way back to his companions as quickly as he could, closely followed +by the bear. Matters began to look rather serious, and they each +snatched up their weapons. Hansen, an ice-staff, Johansen, an axe, +and Blessing nothing at all, shouting at the top of their voices, +"Bear! bear!" after which they all took to their heels as fast as +ever they could for the ship. The bear, however, held on his course +toward the tent, which he examined very closely before following on +their tracks. The animal was subsequently shot on approaching the +Fram. Nansen was not a little surprised on finding in its stomach +a piece of paper stamped, "Lutken & Mohn, Christiania," which he +recognized as belonging to the ship. + +On another occasion, toward the end of 1893, Hendriksen, whose +business it was to see to the dogs that were tethered on an ice-floe, +came tearing into the ship, and shouting, "Come with a gun! Come +with a gun!" The bear, it seems, had bitten him on his side. Nansen +immediately caught up his gun, as also did Hendriksen, and off they +set after the bear. There was a confused sound of human voices on +the starboard side of the ship, while on the ice below the gangway +the dogs were making a tremendous uproar. + +Nansen put his gun up to his shoulder, but it wouldn't go off. There +was a plug of tow in the barrel. And Hendriksen kept crying out, +"Shoot, shoot! mine won't go off!" There he stood clicking and +clicking, for his gun was stuffed up with vaseline. Meanwhile the +bear was lying close under the ship, worrying one of the dogs. The +mate, too, was fumbling away at his gun, which was also plugged, +while Mogstad, the fourth man, was brandishing an empty rifle, for +he had shot all his cartridges away, crying out, "Shoot him! shoot +him!" The fifth man, Scott-Hansen, was lying in the passage leading +into the chart-room, groping after cartridges through a narrow chink +in the door; for Kvik's kennel stood against it, so that he could not +get it wide open. At last, however, Johansen came, and fired right +into the bear's hide. This shot had the effect of making the brute +let go of the dog, which jumped up and ran away. Several shots were +now fired, which killed the bear. + +Hendriksen tells this story about his being bitten:-- + +"You see," he said, "as I was going along with the lantern, I saw +some drops of blood by the gangway, but thought one of the dogs had +very likely cut its foot. On the ice, however, we saw bear-tracks, +and started off to the west, the whole pack of dogs with us running on +ahead. When we had got some little distance from the Fram, we heard a +terrible row in front, and presently saw a great brute coming straight +toward us, closely followed by the dogs. No sooner did we see what +it was than we set off for the ship as fast as we could. Mogstad +had his Lappish moccasons on, and knew the way better than I did, +so he got to the ship before me; for I couldn't go very fast with +these heavy wooden shoes, you see. I missed my way, I suppose, for I +found myself on the big hummock to the west of the ship's bows. There +I took a good look round, to see if the bear was after me. But I +could not see any signs of it, so I started off again, but fell down +flat on my back among the hummocks. Oh, yes, I was soon up again, and +got down to the level ice near the ship's side, when I saw something +coming at me on the right. At first I thought it was one of the dogs; +for it isn't so easy to see in the dark, you know. But I hadn't much +time for thinking, for the brute jumped right on me, and bit me here, +on the side. I had lifted my arm up like this, you see, and then he +bit me on the hip, growling and foaming at the mouth all the while." + +"What did you think then, Peter?" asked Nansen. + +"What did I think? Why, I thought it was all up with me. I hadn't +any weapon, you see; so I took my lantern and hit the beast as hard +as ever I could with it on the head, and the lantern broke, and the +pieces went skimming over the ice. On receiving the blow I gave him +he squatted down and had a good look at me; but no sooner did I set +off again than up he got too, whether to have another go at me, or +what for, I can't say. Anyhow, he caught sight of a dog coming along, +and set off after it, and so I got on board." + +"Did you call out, Peter?" + +"I should think I did! I holloaed as loud as ever I could!" + +And no doubt he did, for he was quite hoarse. + +"But where was Mogstad all the while?" asked Nansen. + +"Why, you see, he had got to the ship long before me. It never +occurred to him, I suppose, to give the alarm; but he takes his gun +off the cabin wall, thinking he could manage by himself. But his gun +wouldn't go off, and the bear might have had plenty of time to eat +me up right under his very nose." + +On leaving Peter, the bear, it seems, had set off after the dogs; +and it was in this way it came near the ship, where, after killing +one of the dogs, it was shot. + +In the course of the winter Sverdrup set up a bear-trap of his own +invention, but it did not prove very successful. One evening, a bear +was seen approaching the trap; it was a bright moonlight night, much +to Sverdrup's delight. On reaching the trap, the bear reared itself +on its hind legs very cautiously, laid his right paw on the woodwork, +stared for a little while at the tempting bait, but didn't seem to +approve altogether of the ugly rows of teeth around it. Shaking his +head suspiciously, he lowered himself on all fours, and sniffed at the +steel wire fastened to the trap, and once more shook his head as if +to say, "Those cunning beggars have planned this very carefully for +me, no doubt." Then he got up again on his hind legs and had another +sniff, and down again on all fours, after which he came toward the +ship and was shot. + +Autumn passed away and Christmas arrived while the Fram was drifting +between seventy-nine and eighty-one degrees north latitude. This +tedious drifting was a sore trial to Nansen. He often thought that +there must be some error in his calculations, often very nearly +lost heart. But then he thought of those at home who had made such +sacrifices for him, and of those on board who placed such implicit +faith in him; while overhead the star--his star--shone out brilliantly +in the wintry night, and inspired him with renewed courage. + +The time was now drawing near when their first Christmas on board +should be kept. The polar night, with its prolonged darkness and biting +cold, brooded over the ship, and ice-pressures thundered all around. + +Christmas Eve was ushered in with -35 deg. Fahrenheit. The Fram lay in +seventy-nine degrees, eleven minutes, north latitude, two minutes +farther south than was the case a week before. + +There was a peculiar feeling of solemnity on board. Every one was +thinking of home, and trying at the same time to keep his thoughts to +himself, and so there was more noise and laughter than usual. They +ate and they drank and made speeches, and the Christmas presents +were given out, and the Framsjaa, the Fram's newspaper, with an extra +illustrated Christmas number, appeared. + +In the poem for the day it said:-- + + + "When the ship is hemmed in by ice fathom-thick, + When we drift at the will of the stream, + When the white veil of winter is spread all around, + In our sleep of our dear home we dream. + + Let us wish them a right merry Christmas at home, + Good luck may the coming year bring; + We'll be patient and wait, for the Pole we will gain, + Then hurrah for our home in the spring." + + +The menu for Christmas Eve was:-- + + + 1. Oxtail Soup. + 2. Fish Pudding. + 3. Reindeer-steak and Green Peas. French Beans, Potatoes, and + Huckleberry Jelly. + 4. Cloudberries and Cream. + 5. Cake and Marzipan. + 6. Beer. + + +The Nansen lads knew how to live. But this night they had no supper; +they simply could not manage it. Indeed, it was all they could do +to get through an extra dessert, consisting of pineapple preserve, +honey-cakes, vanilla biscuits, cocoa macaroons, figs, raisins, +almonds, etc. + +The banquet was held in their cosey saloon, which was lighted with +electric lights; and in the evening they had organ recitals, songs, +and many other recreations. Yes, there was merriment galore on the +Fram, frozen in though she was in the Polar sea. + +If it had not been for the noise of the ice-pressures they might indeed +have imagined themselves to be in the very middle of civilization. In +their inmost hearts they longed for a pressure,--a pressure of the hand +from dear ones at home. A long time must elapse before that could be. + +Then came New Year's Eve, with a brilliant aurora shining overhead, and +still each one on board felt that irrepressible longing in his heart. + +Nansen read out on this occasion the last salutation he had received +from Norway. It was a telegram from Professor Moltke Moe at Tromsoe:-- + + + "Luck on the way, + Sun on the sea, + Sun in your minds, + Help from the winds. + Wide open floes + Part and unclose + Where the ship goes. + Onward! Good cheer! + Tho' ice in the rear + Pack--it will clear. + Food enough--strength enough-- + Means enough--clothes enough. + Then will the Fram's crew + Reach the Pole in months few. +Good luck on thy journey to thee and thy hand, +And a good welcome back to the dear Fatherland!" + + +These lines, needless to say, were received with great acclamation. + +Meanwhile month after month passes without much change. The men on +the Fram live their lonely lives. They take observations in the biting +frost--Scott Hansen usually attends to this work. The others, who are +sitting down in the cabins, often hear a noise of feet on the deck, +as if some one were dancing a jig. + +"Is it cold?" asks Nansen, when Hansen and his assistants come below. + +"Cold? oh, no! not at all!--quite a pleasant temperature!" a piece +of information which is received with shouts of laughter. + +"Don't you find it cold about the feet either?" + +"No, can't say I do; but every now and then it's rather cool for +one's fingers!" He had just had two of his frostbitten. + +One morning, indeed, when an observation had to be taken in a hurry, +Scott Hansen was seen on deck with nothing on but his shirt and +trousers when the thermometer registered -40 deg. Fahrenheit. + +Occasionally they would have to go out on the ice to take observations, +when they might be seen standing with their lanterns and tackle, +bending over their instruments, and then all at once tearing away +over the ice, swinging their arms like the sails of a windmill; +but it was always, "Oh! it's not at all cold! Nothing to speak of!" + +On Friday, Feb. 2, the Fram reached eighty degrees north latitude, +an event that was duly celebrated on board. They were all, moreover, +in wonderful spirits, especially as the gloom of winter was beginning +to lighten at the approach of spring. + +By March 23 they had again drifted to the south, and it was not till +April 17 that they reached 80 deg. 20' north latitude. On May 21, it was +81 deg. 20', one degree further north, and on June 18, 81 deg. 52'. They were +progressing! But after this a back drift set in, and on Sept. 15, +1894, the Fram lay in 81 deg. 14' north latitude. + +The weather had been tolerably fine during the summer; but there +was little else for them to do except take observations, ascertain +the temperature of the water at different depths, etc., and collect +specimens of sea-weed, etc. And so another winter with its gloom and +darkness was approaching. + +During this summer Nansen had often contemplated the idea of +leaving the Fram, and of going with one of his companions on a sleigh +expedition to the regions nearer the Pole; for he feared the Fram would +not drift much farther in a northerly direction, and was most unwilling +to return home without first having done his utmost to explore the +northern regions. Accordingly he occupied himself a good deal in +making sleigh excursions in order to get the dogs into training, +and in other preparations. He had mentioned his plan to Sverdrup, +who quite approved of it. + +About the middle of September a rather strange thing +happened. Peterson, who was acting as cook that week, came one day to +Nansen, and said he had had a wonderful dream. He dreamt that Nansen +intended to go on an expedition to the Pole with four of the men, +but would not take him with them. + +"You told me," he said, "you wouldn't want a cook on your expedition, +and that the ship was to meet you at some other place; anyhow, that +you would not return here, but would go to some other land. It's +strange what a lot of nonsense one can dream!" + +Nansen replied that perhaps it was not such great nonsense, after all; +whereon Petersen said, "Well, if you do go, I would ask you to take me +with you; I should like it very much! I can't say I am a good hand on +ski, but I could manage to keep up with the rest." When Nansen remarked +that such an expedition would be attended with no little danger, one +involving even the risk of life; "Psha!" answered Petersen, "one can +but die once! If I were with you I shouldn't be a bit afraid!" And +that he would willingly have accompanied Nansen to the North Pole +in the middle of the dark winter, without the slightest hesitation, +is sure enough. And so, indeed, would all the others have done. + +On Monday, Nov. 19, Nansen mentioned his scheme to Johansen, whom he +had selected to be his companion, and on the following day he took +the rest of the crew into his confidence. They evinced the greatest +interest in the proposed scheme, and, indeed, considered it highly +necessary that such an expedition should take place. + +And now they all set to work in earnest about the necessary +preparations, such as making sleighs, kayaks, exercising the dogs, +and weighing out provisions, etc. + +Meanwhile winter dragged on its weary way. Another Christmas came, +finding them in latitude, eighty-three degrees, and ice pressures were +increasing daily. The New Year of 1895 was ushered in with wind, and +was dark and dreary in the extreme. On Jan. 3, the famous ice-pressure +occurred, that exposed the Fram to the severest strain any ship ever +encountered, and lived. + +At 8 A.M. on the morning of the 3d of January Nansen was awakened by +the familiar sound of an approaching pressure. On going up on deck he +was not a little surprised to see a huge pressure-ridge scarcely thirty +paces away from the Fram, with deep cracks reaching almost to the +ship itself. All loose articles were at once stowed away on board. At +noon the pressure began again, and the dreaded ridge came nearer and +nearer. In the afternoon preparations were made to abandon the ship, +the sleighs and kayaks being placed ready on deck. At supper-time it +began crunching again, and Nordahl came below to say that they had +better go up on deck at once. The dogs, too, had to be let loose, +for the water stood high in their kennels. + +During the night the ice remained comparatively quiet, but next morning +the pressure began again. The huge ridge was now only a few feet from +the ship. + +At 6.30 Jan. 5 Nansen was awakened by Sverdrup telling him that the +ridge had now reached the ship, and was level with the rails. All +hands at once rushed on deck; but nothing further occurred that day +till late in the evening, when the climax came. At eight P.M. the +crunching and thundering was worse than ever; masses of ice and snow +dashed over the tent and rails amidships. Every one set to work to +save what he could. Indeed, the crashing and thundering made them +think doomsday had come; and all the while the crew were rushing +about here and there, carrying sacks and bags, the dogs howling, +and masses of ice pouring in every moment. Yet they worked away with +a will till everything was put in a place of safety. + +When the pressure finally was over, the Fram's port-side was completely +buried in the ice-mound; only the top of the tent being visible. But +she had stood the trial--passed through it gloriously; for she came +out of it all uninjured, without even a crack. There she lay as sound +as ever, but with a mound of ice over her, higher indeed than the +second ratline of her fore-shrouds, and six feet above the rails. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Nansen and Johansen start on a Sleighing Expedition.--Reach + Eighty-six Degrees, Fourteen Minutes, North Latitude.--Winter in + Franz Joseph's Land. + + +March 17, 1895, was a memorable day in the Fram's history, for it was +on that date that Nansen and Johansen set out on the most adventurous +expedition ever undertaken in the polar sea. At the time of leaving +the ship, she was in eighty-four degrees north latitude. + +On quitting her they fired a salute on board with all their guns as +a farewell; and, though the lads on the Fram kept their spirits up +bravely, every eye was full of tears, something quite uncommon with +them: and they watched their two adventurous comrades, with their +sleighs and dogs, as they set off toward the Pole, till they were +lost to sight among the hummocks. + +The ice was terribly difficult, and they had a wearisome march over +it; and, to make matters worse, a southerly drift set in, driving +them nearly as far back as they advanced. However, they got on pretty +well till reaching eighty-five degrees north latitude, when another +back drift set in, lasting, indeed, without intermission during the +whole of the expedition. The dogs, too, got worn out, and had to +be killed one after the other; while, to add to their discomfort, +their clothes would get frozen so stiff during the day that they had +to thaw them in their sleeping-bags at night with the warmth of their +bodies. Very often they were so tired in the evening that they would +fall asleep with the food in their hands. Their expedition, too, +haunted them in their sleep; and often Nansen would be awakened by +hearing Johansen call out in the night, "Pan!" "Barabbas!" or "The +whole sleigh is going over!" or "Sass-sass," "Prr!" Lappish words to +make the dogs quicken their pace or to halt. + +It was sorrowful work to have to kill these faithful animals when they +were worn out. Nansen himself says that he often felt the bitterest +self-reproaches, and confessed that this expedition seemed to destroy +all the better feelings of his nature. But forward they must go, +and forward they went, though their progress was very slow. + +It was not long before Nansen became convinced that it would be an +utter impossibility to reach the Pole through such masses of pack-ice +and hummocks as they encountered. The question, therefore, was how +far they should venture toward it before turning their faces southward. + +On Monday, April 8, they had reached eighty-six degrees, ten minutes, +north latitude (though it subsequently turned out to be eighty-six +degrees, fourteen minutes, north latitude, that renowned degree +of latitude that became historical when the news of the Nansen +expedition was flashed all over the world), and determined to go on +no farther. So, on the day following, they changed their course to +the south. The going improved a little as they travelled on. As far +as the eye could reach huge masses of ice towered aloft toward the +north, while toward the south the ice became each day more favorable, +a circumstance that cheered them up not a little. + +On Sunday, May 5, they were in eighty-four degrees, thirty-one +minutes, north latitude, and on the 17th, in eighty-three degrees, +thirty minutes, north latitude. + +They found it very hard work crossing the open channels in the ice; and +what made it harder was that the number of their dogs diminished daily, +one after another having to be killed as food for the survivors. It +was absolutely necessary, however, to reach a latitude where game +could be procured, before their stock of provisions gave out. + +On May 19 they came on the tracks of a bear, but did not see the animal +itself. Tracks of foxes they had already seen when in eighty-five +degrees north latitude. + +It seemed as if there was no end to these channels which must be +crossed, and of the young ice which made hauling the sleighs such +terribly hard work. Moreover, soon they would have no dogs left to +help them, and they would have to drag the sleighs themselves. + +May passed and June set in, and still no end to the channels or +to their excessive hard work, and not a glimpse of land to be +seen yet. Every now and then a narwhal would be seen, or a seal, +heralds, doubtless, that they were approaching the regions of animated +nature. The ice, too, no longer hard and smooth, became regular slush, +so that it clogged on the under surface of their ski, and strained +to the utmost the poor dogs, who could hardly drag their loads after +them. Everything, indeed, seemed against them! Three months had elapsed +since quitting the Fram, and as yet they had met with no change for +the better. + +On June 16 Kaifas, Haren, and Suggen were the sole survivors of the +pack, and Nansen and Johansen had to do dogs' work themselves in +dragging the sleighs. + +But a turn for the better set in. On the 22d, as they were rowing +the kayaks over some open water, they were fortunate enough to shoot +a large seal. Its flesh lasted them a good while, and indeed proved a +great godsend, though they did set fire to the tent while frying blood +pancakes in blubber--a mere trifle, however, on such an expedition +as theirs! They soon mended it with one of the sleigh sails, and the +blood pancakes were voted to be delicious. On the 24th Nansen shot +another seal, an event duly celebrated with great festivity; viz., +a supper of chocolate and blubber. + +On June 30 Nansen discovered, to his great chagrin, that they had +advanced no farther south than they were a month ago, and it began +to dawn upon him that in all probability they would have to winter +up there--a pleasant prospect, forsooth! Their stock of provisions +was nearly exhausted, and only three dogs left. + +On July 6 they shot three bears, so that all anxiety as regards food +was happily at end for the time; though the prospect of reaching home +that year, at least, was infinitesimally small. + +On Tuesday, July 23, they finally broke up "Longing Camp," as they +termed their quarters, and devoted all their energies to their +journey homeward. + +The next day they saw land for the first time. Through the telescope +its hazy outline could be discerned; but it took them a fortnight +to reach it, and when they did reach it, they were so exhausted that +they had to lie up several days. + +During this time Johansen was nearly killed by a bear. Nansen tells +the story:-- + +"After some very hard work we at last reached an open channel in the +ice which we had to cross in our kayaks. I had just got mine ready, +and was holding it to prevent its sliding down into the water, +when I heard a scuffle going on behind me; and Johansen, who was +dragging his sleigh, called out, 'Get your gun!' I looked round, and +saw a huge bear dash at him, and knock him down on his back. I made +a grab at my gun, which was in its case on the foredeck; but at the +same moment my kayak unfortunately slipped down into the water. My +first impulse was to jump in after it, and shoot from the deck; but +it was too risky a venture to attempt, so I set to work to haul it +up on the ice again as quickly as I could. But it was so heavy that +I had to kneel down on one knee, pulling and hauling and struggling +to get hold of the gun, without even time to turn around and see what +was going on behind me. Presently I heard Johansen say very calmly, +'If you don't look sharp, it will be too late.' Look sharp! I should +think I did look sharp! At last I got hold of the butt-end of the +gun, drew it out of its case, whipped round in a sitting posture, +and cocked one of the barrels which was loaded with shot. Meanwhile +the bear stood there scarcely a yard away from me, and was on the +point of doing for Kaifas. I had no time to cock the other barrel, +so I gave it the whole charge of shot behind the ear, and the brute +fell dead between us. + +"The bear must have followed on our tracks like a cat, and hiding +behind blocks of ice, have slunk after us while we were busy clearing +the loose ice away in the channel, with our backs turned toward it. We +could see by its tracks that it had wormed its way on its stomach over +a ridge in our rear, under cover of an ice-mound in close proximity +to Johansen's kayak. + +"While Johansen, without of course suspecting anything, or even looking +behind him, was stooping down to lay hold of the hauling-rope, he got +a glimpse of some animal lying in a crouching posture at the stern of +the kayak. He thought at first it was only the dog Suggen; but before +he had time to notice how large it was, he received a blow over the +right ear that made him 'silly,' and over he went on his back. He now +tried to defend himself the best he could with his bare fists, and with +one hand gripped the brute by the throat, never once relaxing his hold. + +"Just as the bear was about to bite him on the head, he uttered those +memorable words, 'Look sharp!' The bear kept watching me intently, +wondering no doubt what I was up to, when all at once it happily caught +sight of one of the dogs, and immediately turned toward it. Johansen +now let go his hold of the brute's throat, and wriggled himself away, +while the bear gave poor Suggen a smack with his paw that made him +howl as he used to do when he got a thrashing. Kaifas, too, got a +smack on the nose. Meanwhile Johansen had got on his feet, and just +as I fired had got hold of his gun, which was sticking up out of +the hole in the kayak. The only damage done was that the bear had +scraped a little of the grime and dirt off Johansen's right cheek, +so that he goes with a white stripe on it now, besides a scratch on +one hand. Kaifas, too, had his nose scratched." + +On reaching land they had to shoot Kaifas and Suggen, the sole +survivors of their twenty-six faithful companions. It was a hard +task. Johansen took Nansen's dog Kaifas in a leash behind a hummock, +while Nansen did the same with Johansen's Suggen. Their two guns went +off simultaneously, and the two men stood friendless, alone in the +desert of ice. They did not say many words to each other on meeting. + + + +Along the coast of the land they discovered there was open water, +of which they availed themselves, first lashing their kayaks together +so that they formed in fact a double kayak. + +They rowed for several days, and were fortunate enough to shoot a +walrus; but they had no idea what land it was, or where they were. + +One evening, however, the channel closed up, and no more open water was +to be found. But on Aug. 13 it opened up again, and they were able to +push on. After twenty-four hours it closed once more, and they had to +drag the kayaks on the sleigh overland. On the evening of Aug. 18 they +reached one of the islands they had been steering for, and for the +first time for two years had bare earth under their feet. Here they +revelled in "the joys of country life,"--now jumping over the rocks, +or gathering moss and specimens of the flora, etc.,--and hoisted the +Norwegian flag. + +In its summer dress this northern land seemed to them to be a perfect +paradise; plenty of seals, sea-birds, flowers, and mud--and in front +the blue sea. + +They were, therefore, loath to leave it, but onward they must proceed, +if they wished to reach home that autumn. But fate willed it otherwise. + +They soon encountered ice again--nothing but ice--bare ice as far +as the eye could reach. After waiting a considerable time, they once +more had open water, of which they took advantage by hoisting a sail; +but at the end of twenty-four hours their course was again blocked--a +block that decided their future movements materially; for they were +compelled to winter there! + +It may readily be supposed that this was not only a terrible +disappointment, but a severe trial to our two arctic navigators. After +all their labor and exertion, after reaching open water, and buoying +themselves up, with the hope that their struggles would soon be over, +to find that hope shattered, and their plans rendered abortive, +and that they must perforce be imprisoned in the ice for months, +was enough to make them lose heart altogether. But when once they +realized their position, they acted like men, and set to work to +build a stone hut, on the roof and floor of which they stretched +bear hides. They succeeded in shooting several walruses, the blubber +of which provided them with fuel, so that they might have been in a +worse plight than they were. Still, it was not altogether pleasant to +have to lie in a stone hut during a polar winter, with the thermometer +down to -40 Fahrenheit, without any other food than bears' flesh and +blubber. Indeed, it required the constitution of a giant to endure it, +and unyielding determination not to lose heart altogether. + +By working for a week, they finished the walls of their abode, and +after getting the roof on, moved into it. They made a great heap of +blubber of the walruses they shot outside the hut, covering it over +with walrus hides. This was their fuel store. It served of course +to attract bears, which was an advantage; and many a one paid the +penalty of his appetite by being shot. At first they found it very +uncomfortable at night, so they both slept in one sleeping-bag, and +thus kept tolerably warm. But the climax of their joy was building in +the roof a chimney of ice to let out the smoke of their fire. They +had no other materials to make it out of. It answered capitally, +however, having only one drawback; viz., that it readily melted. But +there was no lack of ice for making another. + +Their cuisine was simple in the extreme, and strangely enough they +never got tired of their food. Whatever came to hand, flesh or blubber, +they ate readily, and sometimes, when a longing for fatty food, as +was often the case, came over them, they would fish pieces of blubber +out of the lamps, and eat them with great relish. They called these +burnt pieces biscuits; and "if there had only been a little sugar +sprinkled on them, they would have tasted deliciously," they said. + +During the course of this winter the foxes proved very +troublesome. They gnawed holes in the roof, stole instruments, +wire, harpoons, and a thermometer. Luckily they had a spare one, +so that the register of the temperature did not suffer. They were +principally white foxes that visited them; but occasionally they saw +the blue fox, and would dearly have liked to shoot some specimens of +that beautiful animal, only that they feared their ammunition would +not hold out. They shot their last bear on Oct. 21, after which they +saw no more till the following spring. + +It was a long, tedious winter; the weather generally very boisterous, +with drifting snowstorms. But every now and then fine weather +would set in, when the stars would shine with great brilliancy, and +wondrously beautiful displays of the aurora borealis would lighten +up the whole scene. + +Another Christmas Eve arrived, the third they had spent in the polar +regions; but this was the dreariest and gloomiest of them all. However, +they determined to celebrate it, which they did by reversing their +shirts. Then they ate fish-meal with train-oil instead of butter, +and for a second course toasted bread and blubber. On Christmas +morning they treated themselves to chocolate and bread. + +On New Year's Day, 1896, there were -41 deg. of cold (Fahrenheit), +and all Nansen's finger-tips were frost-bitten. Out there on that +dreary headland their thoughts wandered away to their home, where +they pictured to themselves all the Christmas joy and festivity that +would be taking place, the flakes of snow falling gently out-of-doors, +and the happy faces of their dear ones within. + + + "The road to the stars is long and heavy!" + + +Nansen and Johansen slept during the greater part of that long +winter. Sometimes, like bears in their winter quarters, they would +sleep for twenty-four hours at a stretch, when there was nothing +particular to be done. Spring, however, returned at last, and the +birds began to reappear on their northerly flight. The polar bears, +too, revisited their hut, so they got plenty of fresh meat. The first +bear they killed acted very daringly. Johansen was on the point of +going out of the hut one day, when he started back, crying out, +"There's a bear just outside!" Snatching up his gun, he put his +head out of the door of the hut, but instantly withdrew it. "It +is close by, and means coming in." Then he put his gun out again, +and fired. The shot took effect, and the wounded beast made off for +some rocky ground. After a long pursuit Nansen came up with it, +and shot it in a snowdrift. It rolled over and over like a ball, +and fell dead close to his feet. Its flesh lasted them six weeks. + +On May 19 they broke up their winter camp, and proceeded over the ice +in a southerly direction, meeting with long stretches of level young +ice, making also good use of their sail, and finally reached open +water on Friday, June 12. They now lashed the two kayaks together, +forming a double kayak, and set out to sea with a favorable breeze, +feeling not a little elated; and in the evening lay to at the edge +of the ice to rest, having first moored the kayaks with a rope, and +then got up on a hummock to reconnoitre. Presently Johansen was heard +to shout out, "The kayaks are adrift!" Down they both of them rushed +as fast as they could. + +"Here, take my watch!" cried Nansen, handing it to Johansen, while +he divested himself of his outer garments, and jumped into the water. + +Meanwhile the kayaks had drifted a considerable distance. It was +absolutely necessary to overtake them, for their loss meant--death. + +But we will let Nansen tell the story:-- + +"When I got tired, I turned over on my back, and then I could see +Johansen walking incessantly to and fro on the ice. Poor fellow! he +could not stand still; he felt it was so dreadful to be unable to do +anything. Moreover, he did not entertain, he told me, much hope of my +being able to reach them. However, it would not have mended matters +had he jumped in after me. They were the worst minutes, he said, +he had ever passed in all his life. + +"But when I turned over again and began swimming once more, I saw that +I was perceptibly gaining on the kayaks, and this made me redouble +my exertions. My limbs, however, were now becoming so numb and stiff +that I felt I couldn't go on much longer. But I wasn't far off the +kayaks now; if I could only manage to hold out a little longer, we +were saved--and on I went. My strokes kept getting shorter and feebler +every instant, but still I was gaining, and hoped to be able to come +up with them. At last I got hold of a ski that lay athwart the bows, +and clutched onto the kayaks. We were saved! but when I tried to get +aboard, my limbs were so cold and stiff that I couldn't manage it. For +a moment I feared it was too late after all, and that although I had +got thus far, I should never be able to get on board. So I waited a +moment to rest, and after a great deal of difficulty, succeeded in +getting one leg up on the edge of the sleigh that was lying on the +deck, and so got on board, but so exhausted that I found it hard work +to use the paddle." + +When Nansen at last got the kayaks back to the edge of the ice, +he changed his wet clothes, and was put to bed on the ice, that is +to say, in the sleeping-bag, by Johansen, who threw a sail over him, +and made him some warm drink, which soon restored the circulation. But +when he told Johansen to go and fetch the two auks he had shot as he +was rowing the kayaks back, the latter burst out laughing, and said, +"I thought you had gone clean mad when you shot." + +On Monday, June 15, Nansen's life was a second time in jeopardy. They +were rowing after walruses, when one of the creatures bobbed up close +by Nansen's kayak, and stuck its tusks through the side. Nansen hit +it over the head with the paddle, whereon the brute let go his hold +and disappeared. + +But the kayak very nearly foundered, and was only hauled up on the +ice as it was on the point of sinking. + +This was the last perilous adventure on this marvellous expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Meeting with Jackson.--Return to Norway on the Windward.--Fram + Returns to Norway.--Royal Welcome Home. + + +It was June 17, Henrik Wergeland's [41] birthday. Nansen had been +down to the edge of the ice to fetch some salt water, and had got up +on a hummock in order to have a good look about. A brisk breeze was +blowing off land, bearing with it the confused sound of bird-cries +from the distant rocks. As he stood listening to these sounds of life +in that wild desert, which he thought no human eye had ever seen, +or human foot trodden before, a noise like the bark of a dog fell on +his ear. He started with amazement. + +Could there be dogs here? Impossible! He must have been mistaken. It +must have been the bird-cries! But no--there it was again! First a +single bark, then the full cry of a whole pack. There was a deep bark, +succeeded by a sharper one. There could be no doubt about it! Then he +remembered that only the day before he had heard a couple of reports +resembling gunshots, but had thought it was only the ice splitting +and cracking. He now called to Johansen, who was in the tent. + +"I can hear dogs over yonder!" he said. + +Johansen, who was lying asleep, jumped up and bundled out of the +tent. "Dogs?" No! he could not take that in; but all the same went up +and stood beside Nansen to listen. "It must be your imagination!" he +said. He certainly had on one or two occasions, he said, heard +sounds like the barking of a dog, but they had been so drowned in the +bird-cries that he did not think much of it. To which Nansen replied +that he might think what he liked, but that for his part he intended +to set out as soon as they had had breakfast. + +So it was arranged that Johansen should stay there to see to the +kayaks, while Nansen set out on this expedition. + +Before finally starting, Nansen once more got up on the hummock and +listened, but could hear nothing. However, off he started, though he +felt some doubts in his own mind. What if it were a delusion after all? + +After proceeding some distance he came on the tracks of an animal. They +were too large to be those of a fox, and too small for a wolf. They +must be dog tracks, then! A distant bark at that moment fell on +his ear, more distinct than ever, and off he set at full speed in +the direction of the sound, so that the snow dust whirled up in +clouds behind him, every nerve and muscle of his body quivering +with excitement. He passed a great many tracks, with foxes' tracks +interspersed among them. A long time now elapsed during which he +could hear nothing, as he went zigzagging in among the hummocks, and +his heart began to sink at every step he took. Suddenly, however, he +thought he could hear the sound of a human voice--a strange voice--the +first for three years! His heart beat, the blood flew to his brain, +and springing up on the top of a hummock, he hallooed with all the +strength of his lungs. Behind that human voice in the midst of this +desert of ice stood home, and she who was waiting there! + +An answering shout came back far, far off, dying away in the +distance, and before long he discerned some dark form among the +hummocks farther ahead. It was a dog! But behind it another form was +visible--a man's form! + +Nansen remained where he was, rooted to the spot, straining eyes and +ears as the form gradually drew near, and then set off once more to +meet it, as if it were a matter of life and death. + +They approached each other. Nansen waved his hat; the stranger did +the same. + +They met. + +That stranger was the English arctic traveller, Mr. Jackson. + +They shook hands; and Jackson said,-- + +"I am delighted to meet you!" + +N. "Thanks; so am I." + +J. "Is your ship here?" + +N. "No." + +J. "How many are you?" + +N. "I have a companion out yonder by the edge of the ice." + +As they walked along together, Jackson, who had been eyeing Nansen +all the while intently, all at once halted, and staring his companion +full in the face said,-- + +"Are not you Nansen?" + +"Yes, I am." + +"By Jove! I am glad to meet you!" + +And he shook Nansen by the hand so heartily as well nigh to dislocate +his wrist, his dark eyes beaming with delight. Endless questions and +answers took place between them till they reached Jackson's camp, +where some of the men were at once despatched to fetch Johansen. + +Life with Jackson was for our two northmen a life of uninterrupted +comfort and delight. First of all they were photographed in their +"wild man's attire;" then they washed, put on fresh clothes, had their +hair cut, enjoyed the luxury of a shave; undergoing all the changes +from savage to civilized life--changes that to them were inexpressibly +delightful. Once more they ate civilized food, lay in civilized beds, +read books, newspapers, smoked, drank. What a change after fifteen +months of Esquimau fare of blubber and bears' flesh! And yet during +all that time they had experienced scarcely a single day's illness. + +Jackson's ship, the Windward, was expected to arrive shortly, and it +was arranged that Nansen and Johansen should embark on her for Norway. + +But our two travellers had to wait a longer time than they anticipated, +for it was not till July 26 that the Windward arrived. On Aug. 7, +however, they went on board the ship, and steered with a favorable +wind for Vardoe, where they arrived early in the morning of Aug. 13. + +The pilot who came on board did not know Nansen; but when the captain +mentioned his name, his old weather-beaten face brightened up, and +assumed an appearance of mingled joy and petrified amazement. + +Seizing Nansen by the hand, he bade him a thousand +welcomes. "Everybody," he said, "had thought him long dead, as nothing +had been heard of the Fram." + +Nansen assured him he felt no doubt of the safety of the ship, and that +he placed as much confidence in the Fram as he did in himself. Otto +Sverdrup was in command, and they would soon hear tidings of her. + +No sooner had the Windward anchored in Vardoe harbor than Nansen and +Johansen rowed ashore, and at once repaired to the telegraph office. No +one knew them as they entered it. Nansen, thereon, threw down a bundle +of telegrams--several hundred in number--on the counter, and begged +they might be despatched without delay. The telegraph official eyed +the visitors rather curiously as he took up the bundle. When his eye +lighted on the word "Nansen," which was on the one lying uppermost, +he changed color, and took the messages to the lady at the desk, +returning at once, his face beaming with delight, and bade him +welcome. "The telegrams should be despatched as quickly as possible, +but it would take several days to send them all." A minute later +the telegraph apparatus began to tick from Vardoe, and thence round +the whole world, the announcement of the successful issue of the +expedition to the North Pole; and in a few hours' time Nansen's name +was on the lips of a hundred millions of people, whose hearts glowed +at the thought of his marvellous achievement. + +But away yonder in Svartebugta there sat a woman, who would not on that +day have exchanged the anguish she had undergone, and the sacrifices +she had made, for all the kingdoms of the world. + +By an extraordinary coincidence, Nansen met his friend Professor Mohn +in Vardoe--the man who had all along placed implicit reliance on his +theory. On seeing him Mohn burst into tears, as he said, "Thank God, +you are alive." + +By another equally extraordinary coincidence, Nansen met his English +friend and patron, Sir George Baden Powell, in Hammerfest, on his +yacht the Ontario, which he placed at Nansen's disposal, an offer +which was gratefully accepted. Sir Baden Powell had been very anxious +about Nansen, and was, in fact, on the point of setting out on an +expedition to search for him, when he thus met him. + +That same evening Nansen's wife and his secretary, Christophersen, +arrived in Hammerfest, and the whole place was en fete to celebrate +the event. Telegrams kept pouring in from all quarters of the globe, +and invitations from every town on the coast of Norway to visit them +en route. + +But the Fram? The only dark spot amid all their joy was that no tidings +had been heard of her; and in the homes of those brave fellows left +behind there was sadness and anxiety. Even Nansen himself, who had +felt so sure that all was well with her, began to feel anxious. + +One morning, it was Aug. 20, Nansen was awakened by Sir Baden Powell +knocking at his door with the announcement that there was a man +outside who wanted to speak to him. + +Nansen replied that he was not dressed, but would come presently. + +"Come just as you are," answered Sir Baden. + +Who could it be? + +Hurriedly putting on his clothes, Nansen went down into the saloon. A +man was standing there, a telegram in his hand; it was the director +of the telegraph office. + +He had a telegram, he said, which he thought would interest him, +and had brought it himself. + +Interest him! There was only one thing in the world that could interest +Nansen now, and that was the Fram's fate. + +With trembling fingers he tore open the paper, and read,-- + + + Fram arrived in good condition. All well on board. Am + going to Tromsoe. Welcome home. + + O. S. + + +Nansen felt as if he must fall on the floor; and all he could do was +to stammer out, "Fram--arrived!" + +Sir Baden Powell, who was standing beside him, shouted aloud with +joy, while Johansen's face beamed like the sun, and Christophersen +kept walking to and fro; and to complete the tableau, the telegraph +director stood between them all, thoroughly enjoying the scene, +as he looked from one to the other of the party. + +All Hammerfest was en fete, and universal joy was felt the whole world +through, when the tidings of the Fram's home-coming were made known. + +The great work was ended--ended in the happiest manner, without the +loss of a single human life! The whole thing sounded indeed like a +miracle. And a miracle the Nansen lads thought it to be when they met +Nansen and Johansen in Tromsoe; and when all the brave participators +in the expedition were once more assembled, theirs was a joy so +overwhelming that words fail to describe it. + + + +Yes, the great work was ended! + +The voyage along the coast began in sunshine and fete. At last, +on Sept. 9, the Fram steamed up the Christiania Fjord, which +literally teemed with vessels and boats of all sorts, sizes, and +descriptions. It was as if some old viking had returned home from +a successful enterprise abroad. The ships of war fired salutes, the +guns of the fortress thundered out their welcome; while the hurrahs +and shouts of thousands rent the air, flags and handkerchiefs waving +in a flood of joyful acclamation! + +But when with bared head Nansen set foot on land, and the grand +old hymn-- + + + "VOR GUD HAN ER SAA FAST EN BORG" [42] + + +was sung in one mighty chorus by the assembled multitude, thousands +and thousands of men and women felt that the love of their fatherland +had grown in their hearts during those three long years,--from the +time when this man had set out to the icy deserts of the north, to +the moment when he once more planted his foot on his native soil,--a +feeling which the whole country shared with them. + +To the youth of Norway Fridtjof Nansen's character and achievements +stand out as a bright model, a glorious pattern for imitation. For +he it is that has recalled to life the hero-life of the saga times +among us; he it is that has shown our youth the road to manhood. + +That is his greatest achievement! + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] Frognersaeteren, a forest-covered hill about six miles from +Christiania. Nordmarken, an extensive woodland stretching for miles +and miles to the north of Christiania. + +[2] Statholder, vice-regent. In the early days of the union with Sweden +the king had the right of appointing a vice-regent for Norway. The +last time the king made use of this prerogative was in 1844, and the +right was abrogated in 1872. + +[3] Foss, waterfall. + +[4] Ski, Norwegian snowshoes; pronounced shee. + +[5] Huseby, a farm near Christiania, where the annual ski-match was +formerly held. + +[6] Middle school examination, passed on graduating from the grammar +school to the high school. + +[7] Examen artium, the entrance examination to the university. For real +artium the chief topics of examination are sciences, mathematics, and +the English language. The best mark in any subject is 1 (excellent), +the poorest 6 (bad). + +[8] P. C. Asbjoernsen (pron. Asbyurnsen) together with Joergen +(pron. Yurgen) Moe collected the popular and fairy tales of Norway. + +[9] Soerkedal, a valley about eight miles to the north of Christiania. + +[10] Bogstad, a baronial manor about five miles north of Christiania. + +[11] Jotunheim, the giant's world, a group of mountains in the centre +of southern Norway. + +[12] Second examination, graduating as a bachelor of arts. + +[13] Bergen, the metropolis of western Norway, the second largest +city in Norway. + +[14] Voss, a country district of western Norway, connected with Bergen +by railway. Stalheim road, a piece of road winding in a slow decline +down a steep hill, famous for the beauty of its scenery and the +engineering skill with which it has been built. Naeroedal and Lerdals +river must be passed on the way from Bergen to Christiania. + +[15] Fjeld (pron. fyell), mountain. + +[16] Myrstoelen, the last house on the eastern side of the mountain +inhabited the whole year through. + +[17] Aurland and Vosse skavlen, alternative routes across the mountains +from Christiania to Bergen. + +[18] Saeter, mountain hut, used by graziers during the summer months. + +[19] Skaal, your health. + +[20] King Sverre, King of Norway 1177 to 1202. + +[21] An institution where animal life is studied. + +[22] Nordenskjoeld (pron. Nordenshuld), famous Swedish explorer, +discoverer of the North-east Passage. + +[23] Wille, another Norwegian, who at that time was professor at the +High School in Stockholm. + +[24] Blaamand (pron. Blohmann). + +[25] One krone (crown) equals twenty-seven cents. + +[26] Storthing, the legislative assembly (congress) of Norway. + +[27] Folgefond, Jostedalsbrae, Svartisen, glaciers in Norway. + +[28] Karasjok (pron. Karashok), one of the northernmost districts of +Norway, chiefly inhabited by Lapps. + +[29] Qvaen, the Norwegian name for a man of the race inhabiting the +grand duchy of Finland. The Lapps are in Norway called Finns. + +[30] Kayak, small and light boat, chiefly made of sealskin, used by +the natives of Greenland. + +[31] Peaks of rock projecting above the surface of the ice. + +[32] Godthaab (pron. Gott-hob), the only city, and seat of the Danish +governor, on the west coast of Greenland. + +[33] Hvidbjoern (pron. Vid-byurn), The White Bear, a trading-vessel. + +[34] Kroederen, a lake about forty miles to the northwest of +Christiania. Norefjeld, a mountain on the west side of the +lake. Olberg, a farmhouse at the foot of the mountain. + +[35] Lysaker, a railroad station about four miles west of Christiania. + +[36] Fram means onward. + +[37] Dyna, an islet with a lighthouse in Christiania harbor. + +[38] Cape Lindesnaes, the southernmost point of Norway. + +[39] Beian (pron. By-an), a village and stopping-place for the +coast-wise steamers in northern Norway, near Trondhjem. + +[40] Tromsoe, the chief city and bishop's see of the bishopric of same +name, the northernmost diocese in Norway. + +[41] Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian poet and patriot, born 1808, +died 1845. + +[42] "A mighty fortress is our God." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fridtjof Nansen, by Jacob B. 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