After a hard day’s work we sat again in the tent enjoying a pipe of tobacco after our evening meal, when I started to blink as my eyes suddenly began to smart. At first I thought it was the smoke, but the smarting did not stop; it got worse and worse. Tears flowed slowly and scaldingly. There could be no doubt about it. I had become snow-blind. It had come on me without any warning. We had had an overcast sky and snow most of the time, but it had never dawned on me to use snow-glasses. It seemed therefore that I would have to lie like a wreck for a few days, and I admit it now seemed to me that the situation was fairly precarious. I did the only things possible, namely, to get into my sleeping-bag and shut my eyes. Notwithstanding the pain and the trepidation, nature craved its right after the last day’s toil and mental strain, and I slept soundly. Late in the forenoon the following day I wakened somewhat confused in my head. To my great joy I could open my eyes. I noticed that it was twelve o’clock, but whether day or night I did not know. The other two slept, but as Ellsworth awakened at that moment, I learned that it must be midday, as he had crept into his sleeping-bag about 11 P.M. and had slept a long time. My eyes pained a little, but I could see all right, and I put on my spectacles immediately. We had a quiet meal and then arose the question of how to start the engine. We worked and worked, but there was no result. Probably it had been so warm that the valves must have got jammed, and it would take Omdal a week to take the cylinders off and put things right. After this discovery there was only one thing to do. We must secure the machine in the best possible way and try to get across to N 25. We presumed that with united efforts, we could have it ready for flight in the course of a few days, and then Feucht could remain with Omdal and help him to get the aft motor going. [Illustration: AMUNDSEN--BEFORE THE TRIP] [Illustration: AMUNDSEN--AFTER] [Illustration: ELLSWORTH--BEFORE] [Illustration: ELLSWORTH--AFTER]