men on earth that can live up here where we have no cares,
get everything given us without needing to trouble about it, and are
well off in every possible way?' Hansen agreed that it certainly
was a life without care. Juell said much the same a little ago;
what seems to please him most is that there are no summonses here,
no creditors, no bills. And I? Yes, I am happy too. It is an easy
life; nothing that weighs heavy on one, no letters, no newspapers,
nothing disturbing; just that monastic, out-of-the-world existence
that was my dream when I was younger and yearned for quietness in
which to give myself up to my studies. Longing, even when it is
strong and sad, is not unhappiness. A man has truly no right to be
anything but happy when fate permits him to follow up his ideals,
exempting him from the wearing strain of every-day cares, that he
may with clearer vision strive towards a lofty goal.

"'Where there is work, success will follow,' said a poet of the
land of work. I am working as hard as I can, so I suppose success
will pay me a visit by-and-by. I am lying on the sofa, reading about
Kane's misfortunes, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes. Truth obliges
me to confess that I have become addicted to the vice I condemn so
strongly--but flesh is grass; so I blow the smoke clouds into the air
and dream sweet dreams. It is hard work, but I must do the best I can.

"Thursday, January 4th. It seems as if the twilight were increasing
quite perceptibly now, but this is very possibly only imagination. I
am in good spirits in spite of the fact that we are drifting south
again. After all, what does it matter? Perhaps the gain to science
will be as great, and, after all, I suppose this desire to reach the
North Pole is only a piece of vanity. I have now a very good idea of
what it must be like up there. ('I like that!' say you.) Our deep
water here is connected with, is a part of, the deep water of the
Atlantic Ocean--of this there can be no doubt. And have not I found
that things go exactly as I calculated they would whenever we get a
favorable wind? Have not many before us had to wait for wind? And
as to vanity--that is a child's disease, got over long ago. All
calculations, with but one exception, have proved correct. We made
our way along the coast of Asia, which many prophesied we should
have great difficulty in doing. We were able to sail farther north
than I had dared to hope for in my boldest moments, and in just the
lo