378 NAN SEN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "PRAM" 



The food for the dogs daily grew scarcer, and they were 

 anxious to get on as far as possible before it was finished. When, 

 therefore, they came upon a stretch of fairly smooth ice, they made 

 the most of it, and only when they and their dogs were dead tired 

 did they stop. It was their custom to always wind up their watches 

 when they crept into their sleeping-bags, but on one occasion, after 

 they had kept afoot for thirty-six hours at a stretch, when they 

 took them from under their heavy clothing they discovered that 

 both had stopped. In their anxiety to push forward they had for- 

 gotten to wind them up and the springs had run down. There was 

 nothing to do but guess at what the time ought to be, and it became 

 difficult to estimate their position. 



Their next trouble was the failure of the dog food. When the 

 first dog died they kept him, for unless they fell in with a bear and 

 killed it, the bodies of the weaker dogs was all that they could give 

 the stronger ones to keep them alive. 



They expected to reach land by the end of April, but April and 

 May passed, and still only the rugged ice was in view. One by one 

 the dogs had to be sacrificed until only two remained. The weight 

 of the sledges was also very considerably reduced by this time. The 

 third sledge had been abandoned, and now each man, assisted by 

 one dog, dragged a sledge on which rested his kayak, his ski, fire- 

 arms, and other necessaries, as well as a moiety of the remaining 

 stores. 



June came in and still no land was in sight, but the character 

 of the "ice was changing, though not very much for the better. It 

 was not so rugged and hummocky, but it was frequently intersected 

 by channels mostly full of floating pieces. It was useless taking to 

 the kayaks to cross them, and often impossible to go round, so they 

 adopted the method of jumping from piece to piece, and drawing 

 their sledges after them. On June 22d they came upon a seal, which 

 they succeeded in shooting and securing, a fact which was so memo- 

 rable that they rested for a day, giving the dogs an ample supply of 



