(AT A FIVE O'CLOCK TEA)
The Lady: It's so good of you to come. It must be wonderful to have been
at the Pole. Do you know, when the news first reached us, I was so
excited I insisted on calling up all my friends on the telephone and
asking them if they had heard. It must have been a wonderful trip. Won't
you sit down and tell us all about it?
The Explorer: Thank you. We left our winter camp in latitude 83 degrees
7 minutes on October 24, with five men, four sledges, and thirty-two
dogs. The long wait was spent in laying in stocks of seal-meat for the
dogs, constructing sledges, breaking the dogs to harness, making
meteorological observations, bathing, sleeping, and attending to the
dogs. In the cold of the Polar night, work moves on rather slowly, but
I always enjoyed the restful half-hour I devoted to winding up my watch.
On August 24 we caught the first sign of spring.
The Lady: Of course.
The Explorer: But it was not till October 24 that the sun rose and the
Polar day began.
The Lady: How very interesting!
The Explorer: We had been getting impatient. We were afraid the dogs
would grow too fat. We were glad when the edge of the sun's disk showed
above the horizon.
The Lady: It must have been like the first day of creation; it must have
been like the radiant illumination of a great love.
The Explorer: It was indeed. We immediately harnessed the dogs and set
out. The sledges had been loaded several days before. The dogs were in
excellent physical condition. The ice was smooth. The temperature was
minus 28 degrees Centigrade. What this is when expressed in terms of
Fahrenheit, madam, you will of course readily ascertain for yourself by
multiplying by 9, dividing by 5, and subtracting 32.
The Lady: It is all too wonderful!
The Explorer: On our first day's march we covered forty-three
kilometres, the kilometre being equal, as you are aware, to .62121 of a
mile. Part of the way we rode upon the sledges. Then the ice grew rough,
and we took to our skis. We camped in 83 degrees 29 minutes, and built
an igloo, which you will recall is a hut made of ice-blocks and snow.
First we fed the dogs. The daily ration for the dogs was one and a half
kilogrammes of seal-meat, the kilogramme, I need not tell you, being
equal to 2.2046 pounds. Then we turned in.
The Lady: Your first night in the unknown!
The Explorer: As you say, madam. The next day we camped in 83 degrees 53
minutes, fed the dogs as usual, and built an igloo. The day after, we
camped in 84 degrees 29 minutes and built another igloo, after feeding
the dogs. Nothing happened for the next ten days. The dogs were in good
condition. The sledges held well. We made an average daily march of 36
kilometres. But on the eleventh day, at the conclusion of a fairly good
march, one of the dogs in sledge number 2--we called him
Skraal--attacked and bit a dog we called Ragnar. We parted them with
great difficulty. The two days that followed were uneventful, but on the
third day Ragnar attacked and bit Skraal. We had to club them apart. On
the fifteenth day out Ragnar and Skraal attacked and bit a third dog
named Skalder, but he eventually recovered. That was in latitude 85
degrees 87 minutes, at an altitude of 3,700 feet, and the temperature
was minus 27 degrees Centigrade. It occurred just after we had finished
building an igloo and were preparing to feed the dogs.
The Lady: And always you were drawing nearer the goal!
The Explorer: Naturally, madam. All this time we were busy laying down
depots of food for the dogs and the men. Because once we reached the
goal we must, of course, get back as fast as we could. We built a depot
at every degree of latitude, or, roughly speaking, every 100 kilometres.
Our depot in latitude 87 degrees 25 minutes was situated amidst very
picturesque surroundings.
The Lady: In that wonderful landscape!
The Explorer: Yes, the spot had some very extraordinary ice-formations.
Setting out from that point we marched 37 kilometres over rough ice, fed
the dogs, and built an igloo. The next day we marched 70 kilometres over
smooth ice, and, having attended to the dogs, built another igloo. The
next day we marched 50 kilometres over ice that was partly rough and
partly smooth, and had a good night's rest, after putting up an igloo
and caring for the dogs. The next day the ice was very soft, and the
dogs hung back and complained. However, we managed to cover 27
kilometres that day, reaching 88 degrees 14 minutes. There we camped
and--
The Lady: And built another igloo!
The Explorer: No, madam, a food depot. It was on the following day that
I first had reason to feel anxious for my men. Skaarmund, my chief
assistant, froze his ears. That was in latitude 88 degrees 36 minutes,
and the temperature was minus 40 degrees Centigrade. After being
vigorously rubbed for several minutes, he was all right again. Almost
immediately Knudsen complained of headache and we had to give him some
phenacetine. Half an hour later Lanstrup fell down a crevice in the ice.
The Lady: Horrors!
The Explorer: Fortunately the crevice was only two feet deep, and after
we had applied peroxide and vaseline, Lanstrup was as well as ever.
Owing to the high altitude we all experienced some difficulty in
breathing. It was very much like being stalled on a crowded train in
your Subway. It was our ambition to reach the Pole on the fifth day
after, because that was our national holiday. But we found the going too
rough. However, we celebrated the day by giving an extra
half-kilogramme of seal-meat to the dogs and a whole cup of coffee to
the men. Skaarmund had some cigarettes hidden about his person and we
smoked and took an extra hour's rest. Two days later, we were at the
Pole.
The Lady: Where no man's foot had trod before! Alone amidst that
infinite stretch of virgin snow!
The Explorer: Quite so, madam. Immediately after taking observations and
noting the temperature and the velocity of the wind, we built an igloo
and picketed the dogs. We remained there for three days, taking
additional observations, repairing the sledges, and resting up the dogs.
On the third day after we raised the flag over the Pole, we set out on
our return journey.
The Lady: What thoughts must have been yours! You were coming back with
the prize of the centuries, to find the world at your feet.
The Explorer: Exactly, madam. Not one of the dogs had failed us. Having
said farewell to the flag waving proudly at the apex of the globe, we
marched fifty-two kilometres. At the end of the march we built an igloo
and fed the dogs. At the end of the next day's march we killed two dogs:
we gave one to the other dogs, and the other we ate ourselves. It tasted
not unlike fresh veal. The following morning we had hardly commenced our
march when Malstrom cut his foot on a sharp piece of ice which
penetrated his boot. We washed his foot out with witch hazel and made
him ride for a mile or two on a sledge. The pain thereupon disappeared.
At exactly 89 degrees we built an igloo and slept for ten hours in one
stretch. Rising, we killed a dog for breakfast, took our observations,
and set out. Malstrom's foot gave him no trouble. That day we camped at
88 degrees 23 minutes, built another igloo, and killed another dog. Our
appetites were very active. On the way to the Pole we had allowed
ourselves two and one-half kilos of food per day. Now we were consuming
over four kilos a day.
The Lady: Fancy eating four kilometres a day.
The Explorer: No, madam, kilogrammes. But at the same time we were
travelling at a much faster pace; one day our record was ninety.
The Lady: That was a great deal, wasn't it, ninety kilogrammes a day?
The Explorer: No, madam, kilometres. And in this manner we arrived
safely at our winter camp. Five days later we were on board our ship, on
the way to civilisation.
The Lady: How happy you must have been!
The Explorer: We were. But perhaps madam may be interested in some of
the photographs illustrating incidents of our journey to the Pole?
The Lady: How can you ask!
The Explorer: This picture, you will see, shows our permanent camp,
situated in the midst of a snow plain stretching to the horizon in every
direction. This is a picture of the South Pole, similarly situated, you
will observe, in the midst of a snow plain stretching as far as the eye
can see. This is the sledge upon which I travelled to the Pole. The next
picture shows the same sledge viewed from the rear and a little to one
side, and this is still the same sledge as seen at a distance of 200
feet to the left and from a slight elevation. The next picture shows the
sledge with its load, and the one after that shows the load itself
resting close to the walls of an igloo which is just going up. In this
picture you see the igloo completed and with the dogs lying in front.
The next picture shows the same group of dogs with two of the leaders
missing. The next two pictures show the sledge as it was before the
accident and after. The remaining pictures deal with similar subjects.
The Lady: This has been so delightful! Do you know, your English
pronunciation is wonderful for a foreigner!