世界上最冷的地方(2)

It was nearly dark, the sky was black over the mountains. The man smiled, and walked quickly away from the house, down to the sea.

In the water, a big wooden ship waited for him.

The man got onto the ship, and talked and laughed quietly with his friends. The ship's name was Fram, and the man was Roald Amundsen.

The Fram was the most beautiful ship on earth, Amundsen thought. His friends were the best skiers on earth, too.

One of them, Olav Bjaaland, smiled at him. 'North Pole, here we come, Captain, ' he said. 'Yes. ' Amundsen said. His friends could not see his face in the dark. 'Fram is going to the Arctic. '

Everyone on the Fram was ready to go to the North Pole, to the Arctic. Amundsen wanted to go there, too.

But first he wanted to go south, his friends didn't know that. At midnight on June 6th, the Fram moved quietly away from Amundsen's house, out to sea.

The Fram went to an island in the south of Norway. It was a very little island, with only one small wooden house, two trees, and nearly a hundred dogs.

'Look at that! ' Bjaaland said. 'It's an island of dogs! There are dogs in the water, near the trees, on the house—dogs everywhere! '

Two men came out of the house. 'Hassel! Lindstrom! ' Amundsen said. 'It's good to see you! ' How many dogs do you have for me?