384 NANS EN'S MEMORABLE VOYAGE IN THE "FRAM" 



By the middle of May the water along the shore was sufficiently 

 open to permit of their starting in the kayaks on the journey which 

 they expected would end at Spitzbergen. On May 19, 1896, they 

 bade adieu to their winter camp, having packed everything on the 

 kayaks, which they fastened together for convenience and stability. 

 Sometimes they had to get out on the ice which blocked the channel 

 and drag the kayaks over to the open water on the other side ; some- 

 times they sailed and sometimes they paddled. They passed num- 

 bers of walrus lying on the ice, the great monsters paying no heed 

 to them whatever. Once they landed on a mass of ice which rose 

 high out of the water, in order to climb to the top of it and examine 

 the coast line, for they were still in very great doubt whether they 

 were off the shore of a hitherto undiscovered island or not. 



They made the kayaks fast to a projecting piece of ice, and 

 together climbed up to the top of the hummocks. As they reached 

 the summit they looked back to the spot where they had left the 

 kayaks, and were horrified to see them adrift. Already they were 

 some distance away from the ice, and, being tied together, they 

 were going rapidly down the channel. For a moment the sight held 

 the two men motionless, for the kayaks represented their only means 

 of escape. Everything beyond the clothes in which they stood was 

 stored on board, and to be left on the ice without food, arms, or 

 shelter, was almost certain death. 



There was only one desperate means of salvation, and that 

 Nansen took. Dashing down the hummock, he plunged into the ice- 

 cold water and struck out after the retreating kayaks. 



Weighted by his stiff, heavy, grease-sodden clothes, he had the 

 utmost difficulty in swimming at all ; but there was a greater handi- 

 cap even than his clothes in the low temperature of the water. It 

 struck through him with a chill which reached to his bones, numbing 

 his muscles, and making his joints lose their suppleness. The breeze 

 which was blowing helped the kayaks along, and increased hist 

 discomfort. Soon he felt that the fight was only a matter of min- 



