Another took up his glasses. There, at the spot where sea and sky met, a gray-black object could be seen rocking on the water. Something seemed to extend from each side of it, which could easily have been the wings of a flying machine. None of us really believed that it was one of the gray seaplanes we were waiting for. But all the same we fetched Captain Hagerup and told him what we had seen. He shook his head, but in spite of his doubt he went up the steps of his bridge much quicker than usual, where, looking through his glasses, he discovered that the gray mass was nothing but an ice-floe, which, aided by a little phantasy, appeared like an approaching aeroplane. It is so easy to be mistaken. Afterwards when we see gray spots on the horizon we shall know that it is either a flock of geese on their way to their nests on the cliffs or that it is a curiously formed ice-floe. Such occurrences give us a little variation in the monotony of our waiting. We have now got used to the noises on the ship, the churning of the propeller, the noise of the pump and of the engines, and pay no attention to any of them. But once we hear a deep humming sound from the coast and think it is the throbbing note we are waiting for. It is only the waves beating against the land as they wash up the broken ice, shivering it again into a thousand pieces. But all the same we stand on the deck with half-opened mouths and hands behind our ears listening to the sound. _South Gate between Danskeöen and Spitzbergen’s Mainland. Tuesday, May 26th_ The First Engineer of the “Fram” told the Captain yesterday evening that our fresh-water tanks were in bad condition. To get the tanks filled at Virgo-havn was not possible, so we would have to go down to Magdalena Bay on the mainland’s northwest point, and fill the tanks with ice from an iceberg we had noticed standing high and dry in the Bay as we passed northwards. It was a long business. The “Fram” was steered towards the iceberg and the crew hacked away large lumps of ice which were sent flying down from the top of the ice-hill direct into the ship’s tanks. It was afternoon before the tanks were full, and a shooting party which had landed returned on board, bringing with them two seals which they had shot. So we weighed our anchor and sailed away from the iceberg into brilliant sunshine over a glassy sea, turning our course towards South Gate where we have now arrived and shall remain for the night.