CARRIER PIGEONS 113 



* 



therefore we decided at once to make an attempt to get 

 to the west. There was nothing to be done but to 

 have recourse to the ancient method of beating. We 

 cleared one point, and then another, but more than that 

 we could not manage for the time being. We took 

 one bearing after another; no, there was no visible 

 progress. Off Dungeness we had to anchor again, and 

 once more console ourselves with the much-vaunted 

 balm of patience. This time we escaped with passing 

 the night there. The wind now thought fit to veer 

 sufficiently to let us get out at daybreak, but it was 

 still a contrary wind, and we had to beat almost all the 

 way down the English Channel. A whole week was 

 spent in doing these three hundred miles; that was 

 rather hard, considering the distance we had to go. 



I fancy most of us gave a good sigh of relief when 

 at last we were clear of the Scilly Isles. The everlast- 

 ing south-west wind was still blowing, but that did not 

 matter so much now. The main thing was that we 

 found ourselves in open sea with the whole Atlantic 

 before us. Perhaps one must have sailed in the Fram 

 to be able fully to understand what a blessing it was to 

 feel ourselves altogether clear of the surrounding land 

 and the many sailing-ships in the Channel to say 

 nothing of constantly working the ship with a deck 

 swarming with dogs. On our first voyage through the 

 Channel in June we had caught two or three carrier 

 pigeons, which had come to rest in the rigging utterly 



VOL. I. 8 



