s, till by May they had only thirteen dogs left.
June found them having experienced tremendous snowstorms with only
seven dogs left. Although they were in the latitude of Franz Josef
Land, no welcome shores appeared. It was now three months since they
had left the _Fram_; the food for the dogs was quite finished and the
poor creatures were beginning to eat their harness of sailcloth.
Mercifully before the month ended they managed to shoot a seal which
provided them with food for a month. "It is a pleasing change," says
Nansen, "to be able to eat as much and as often as we like. Blubber
is excellent, both raw and fried. For dinner I fried a highly successful
steak, for supper I made blood-pancakes fried in blubber with sugar,
unsurpassed in flavour. And here we lie up in the far north, two grim,
black, soot-stained barbarians, stirring a mess of soup in a kettle,
surrounded on all sides by ice--ice covered with impassable snow."

A bear and two cubs were shot and the explorers stayed on at "Longing
Camp" as they named this dreary spot, unable to go on, but amply fed.

On 24th July we get the first cheerful entry for many a long day: "Land!
land! after nearly two years we again see something rising above that
never-ending white line on the horizon yonder--a new life is beginning
for us!"

Only two dogs were now left to drag the sledges, so the two explorers
were obliged to help with the dragging. For thirteen days they
proceeded in the direction of land, dragging and pushing their burdens
over the ridges of ice with thawing snow. At last on 7th August they
stood at the edge of the ice. Behind lay their troubles; before was
the waterway home. Then they launched their little kayaks, which
danced over the open waters, the little waves splashing against their
sides. When the mist cleared they found themselves on the west coast
of Franz Josef Land, discovered by an Austro-Hungarian expedition in
1874.

They were full of hope, when a cruel disappointment damped their joy.
They had landed and were camping on the shore, when a great storm arose
and the wind blew the drift ice down till it lay packed along the coast.
The little ships were frozen in, and there was no hope of reaching
home that winter. Here they were doomed to stay. Fortunately there
were bears and walrus, so they could not starve, and with magnificent
pluck they set to work to prepare for the winter. For many a long day
they toiled at the necessary task of skin