thoughts take their way unchecked.

"Sunday, September 9th. 81 deg. 4' north latitude. The midnight sun
disappeared some days ago, and already the sun sets in the northwest;
it is gone by 10 o'clock in the evening, and there is once more a
glow over the eternal white. Winter is coming fast.

"Another peaceful Sunday, with rest from work, and a little
reading. Out snow-shoeing to-day I crossed several frozen-over lanes,
and very slight packing has begun here and there. I was stopped
at last by a broad open lane lying pretty nearly north and south;
at places it was 400 to 500 yards across, and I saw no end to it
either north or south. The surface was good; one got along quickly,
with no exertion at all when it was in the direction of the wind.

"This is undeniably a monotonous life. Sometimes it feels to me
like a long dark night, my life's 'Ragnarok,' [65] dividing it into
two.... 'The sun is darkened, the summers with it, all weather is
weighty with woe'; snow covers the earth, the wind whistles over the
endless plains, and for three years this winter lasts, till comes
the time for the great battle, and 'men tramp Hel's way.' There is a
hard struggle between life and death; but after that comes the reign
of peace. The earth rises from the sea again, and decks itself anew
with verdure. 'Torrents roar, eagles hover over them, watching for
fish among the rocks,' and then 'Valhalla,' fairer than the sun,
and long length of happy days.

"Pettersen, who is cook this week, came in here this evening, as usual,
to get the bill of fare for next day. When his business was done, he
stood for a minute, and then said that he had had such a strange dream
last night; he had wanted to be taken as cook with a new expedition,
but Dr. Nansen wouldn't have him.

"'And why not?'

"'Well, this was how it was: I dreamed that Dr. Nansen was going off
across the ice to the Pole with four men, and I asked to be taken,
but you said that you didn't need a cook on this expedition, and
I thought that was queer enough, for you would surely want food on
this trip as well. It seemed to me that you had ordered the ship to
meet you at some other place; anyhow, you were not coming back here,
but to some other land. It's strange that one can lie and rake up
such a lot of nonsense in one's sleep.'

"'That was perhaps not such very great nonsense, Pettersen; it is
quite possible that we might have to make such an expedition; but if
we did, we should