The South Pole, vol 2 | Page 7

in that weather one could not make much of a reckoning. We had
several times passed over crevasses, but none of any size. Suddenly we
saw Bjaaland's sledge sink over. He jumped off and seized the trace.
The sledge lay on its side for a few seconds, then began to sink more
and more, and finally disappeared altogether. Bjaaland had got a good
purchase in the snow, and the dogs lay down and dug their claws in.
The sledge sank more and more -- all this happened in a few moments.

"Now I can't hold it any longer." We -- Wisting and I -- had just come
up. He was holding on convulsively, and resisting with all his force, but
it was no use -- inch by inch the sledge sank deeper. The dogs, too,
seemed to understand the gravity of the situation; stretched out in the
snow, they dug their claws in, and resisted with all their strength. But
still, inch by inch, slowly and surely, it went down into the abyss.
Bjaaland was right enough when he said he couldn't hold on any longer.
A few seconds more, and his sledge and thirteen dogs would never
have seen the light of day again. Help came at the last moment.
Hanssen and Hassel, who were a little in advance when it happened,
had snatched an Alpine rope from a sledge and came to his assistance.
They made the rope fast to the trace, and two of us -- Bjaaland and I --
were now able, by getting a good purchase, to hold the sledge
suspended. First the dogs were taken out; then Hassel's sledge was
drawn back and placed across the narrowest part of the crevasse, where
we could see that the edges were solid. Then by our combined efforts
the sledge, which was dangling far below, was hoisted up as far as we
could get it, and made fast to Hassel's sledge by the dogs' traces. Now
we could slack off and let go: one sledge hung securely enough by the
other. We could breathe a little more freely.
The next thing to be done was to get the sledge right, up, and before we
could manage that it had to be unloaded. A man would have to go
down on the rope, cast off the lashings of the cases, and attach them
again for drawing up. They all wanted this job, but Wisting had it; he
fastened the Alpine rope round his body and went down. Bjaaland and I
took up our former positions, and acted as anchors; meanwhile Wisting
reported what he saw down below. The case with the cooker was
hanging by its last thread; it was secured, and again saw the light of day.
Hassel and Hanssen attended to the hauling up of the cases, as Wisting
had them ready. These two fellows moved about on the brink of the
chasm with a coolness that I regarded at first with approving eyes. I
admire courage and contempt for danger. But the length to which they
carried it at last was too much of a good thing; they were simply
playing hide-and-seek with Fate. Wisting's information from below --
that the cornice they were standing on was only a few inches thick --
did not seem to have the slightest effect on them; on the contrary, they

seemed to stand all the more securely.
"We've been lucky," said Wisting; "this is the only place where the
crevasse is narrow enough to put a sledge across. If we had gone a little
more to the left" -- Hanssen looked eagerly in that direction -- "none of
us would have escaped. There is no surface there; only a crust as thin as
paper. It doesn't look very inviting down below, either; immense spikes
of ice sticking up everywhere, which would spit you before you got
very far down."
This description was not attractive; it was well we had found "such a
good place." Meanwhile Wisting had finished his work, and was hauled
up. When asked whether he was not glad to be on the surface again, he
answered with a smile that "it was nice and warm down there." We
then hauled the sledge up, and for the time being all was well. "But,"
said Hassel, "we must be careful going along here, because I was just
on the point of going in when Hanssen and I were bringing up the
sledge." He smiled as though at a happy memory. Hassel had seen that
it was best to be careful. There was no need to look for crevasses; there
was literally nothing else to be seen.
There could be no question of going farther into the trap, for we had
long ago come to the conclusion that, in spite