Voyage through the Kara Sea. 183 



assurance that it would not do the same at the same time 

 next year. It has been observed so often that several 

 bad ice-years come together, and this was evidently none 

 of the best. Though I would hardly confess the feeling 

 of depression even to myself, I must say that it was not 

 on a bed of roses I lay these nights, until sleep came and 

 carried me off into the land of forgetfulness. 



Wednesday, the 6th of September, was the anniversary 

 of my wedding-day. I was superstitious enough to feel 

 when I awoke in the morning, that this day would 

 bring a change, if one were coming at all. The storm had 

 gone down a little, the sun peeped out, and life seemed 

 brighter. The wind quieted down altogether in the 

 course of the afternoon, the weather becoming calm and 

 beautiful. The strait to the north of us, which was 

 blocked before with solid ice, had been swept open by 

 the storm ; but the strait to the east, where we had been 

 with the boat, was firmly blocked, and if we had not 

 turned when we did that evening, we should have been 

 there yet, and for no one knows how long. It seemed 

 to us not improbable that the ice between Cape Lapteft 

 and Almquist's Islands might be broken up. We, there- 

 fore, got up steam and set off north about 6.30 p.m. to 

 try our fortune once more. I felt quite sure that the 

 day would bring us luck. The weather was still 

 beautiful, and we were thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. 

 It was such an unusual thing that Nordahl, when he 

 was working among the coals in the hold in the after- 



