eg. east longitude; then something might be said for waiting till
the spring of 1896; but I cannot but think that we should thus in all
probability let slip the propitious moment. The drifting could not be
so wearingly slow but that after another year had elapsed we should
be far beyond the point from which the sledge expedition ought to set
out. If I measure the distance we have drifted from November of last
year with the compasses, and mark off the same distance ahead, by next
November we should be north of Franz Josef Land, and a little beyond
it. It is conceivable, of course, that we were no farther advanced in
February, 1896, either; but it is more likely, from all I can make
out, that the drift will increase rather than diminish as we work
westward, and, consequently, in February, 1896, we should have got
too far; while, even if one could imagine a better starting-point
than that which the Fram will possibly offer us by March 1, 1895,
it will, at all events, be a possible one. It must, consequently,
be the safest plan not to wait for another spring.

"Such, then, are the prospects before us of pushing through. The
distance from this proposed starting-point to Cape Fligely,
which is the nearest known land, I set down at about 370 miles,
[72] consequently not much more than the distance we covered in
Greenland; and that would be easy work enough over this ice, even if
it did become somewhat bad towards land. If once a coast is reached,
any reasonable being can surely manage to subsist by hunting, whether
large or small game, whether bears or sandhoppers. Thus we can always
make for Cape Fligely or Petermann's Land, which lies north of it,
if our situation becomes untenable. The distance will, of course, be
increased the farther we advance northward, but at no point whatever
between here and the Pole is it greater than we can and will manage,
with the help of our dogs. 'A line of retreat' is therefore secured,
though there are those doubtless who hold that a barren coast, where
you must first scrape your food together before you can eat it,
is a poor retreat for hungry men; but that is really an advantage,
for such a retreat would not be too alluring. A wretched invention,
forsooth, for people who wish to push on is a 'line of retreat'--an
everlasting inducement to look behind, when they should have enough
to do in looking ahead.

"But now for the expedition itself. It will consist of 28 dogs,
two men, and 2100 pou