s breath. No, it is impossible!
Yes, indeed, that is a dog's bark. It must surely be a bird with a
peculiar cry. No, it _is_ a dog barking.

He hurried back to the camp. Johansen thought it was a mistake. They
bolted their breakfast. Then Nansen fastened skis on his feet, took his
gun, field-glass, and alpenstock, and flew swiftly as the wind over the
white snow.

See, there are the footprints of a dog! Perhaps a fox? No, they would be
much smaller. He flies over the ice towards the land. Now he hears a
man's voice. He yells with all the power of his lungs and takes no heed
of holes and lumps as he speeds along towards life, safety, and home.

Then a dog runs up barking. Behind him comes a man. Nansen hurries to
meet him, and both wave their caps. Whoever this traveller with the dog
may be, he has good reason for astonishment at seeing a jet-black giant
come jolting on skis straight from the North Pole.

They meet. They put out their hands.

"How do you do?" asks the Englishman.

"Very well, thank you," says Nansen.

"I am very glad to see you here."

"So am I," cries Nansen.

The Englishman with the dog is named Jackson, and has been for two years
in Franz Joseph Land making sledge journeys and explorations. He
concludes that the black man on skis is some one from the _Fram_, but
when he hears that it is Nansen himself he is still more astonished and
agreeably surprised.

They went to Jackson's house, whither Johansen also was fetched. Both
our explorers washed with soap and brush several times to get off the
worst of the dirt, all that was not firmly set and imbedded in their
skins. They scrubbed and scraped and changed their clothes from top to
toe, and at last looked like human beings.

Later in the summer a vessel came with supplies for Jackson. With this
vessel Nansen and Johansen sailed home. At Vardoe they received telegrams
from their families, and their delight was unbounded. Only one thing
troubled them. Where was the _Fram_? Some little time later Nansen was
awakened at Hammerfest one morning by a telegraph messenger. The
telegram he brought read: "_Fram_ arrived in good condition. All well on
board. Shall start at once for Tromsoe. Welcome home." The sender of the
telegram was the captain of the _Fram_, the brave and faithful
Sverdrup.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] A _krona_ is a Swedish coin worth about 1s. 1-1/2d.

VII

THE SOUTH POLAR REGIONS

It is barely a hundred years since European