as we should be able to slaughter the superfluous animals six days
earlier than we had calculated. It was quite a little feast that
evening in the tent; not that we had any more to eat than usual --
we could not allow ourselves that -- but the thought of the fresh
dog cutlets that awaited us when we got to the top made our mouths
water. In course of time we had so habituated ourselves to the idea
of the approaching slaughter that this event did not appear to us
so horrible as it would otherwise have done. Judgment had already
been pronounced, and the selection made of those who were worthy of
prolonged life and those who were to be sacrificed. This had been,
I may add, a difficult problem to solve, so efficient were they all.

The rumblings continued all night, and one avalanche after another
exposed parts of the mountain-sides that had been concealed from
time immemorial. The following day, November 20, we were up and away
at the usual time, about 8 a.m. The weather was splendid, calm and
clear. Getting up over the saddle was a rough beginning of the day
for our dogs, and they gave a good account of themselves, pulling
the sledges up with single teams this time. The going was heavy,
as on the preceding day, and our advance through the loose snow was
not rapid. We did not follow our tracks of the day before, but laid
our course directly for the place where we had decided to attempt the
ascent. As we approached Mount Ole Engelstad, under which we had to
pass in order to come into the arm of the glacier between it and Mount
Nansen, our excitement began to rise. What does the end look like? Does
the glacier go smoothly on into the plateau, or is it broken up and
impassable? We rounded Mount Engelstad more and more; wider and wider
grew the opening. The surface looked extremely good as it gradually
came into view, and it did not seem as though our assumption of the
previous day would be put to shame. At last the whole landscape opened