100 CAPE CHELYUSKIN 



sledge, he could not turn round. Fortunately, as he 

 fell, he had dug his staff into the ice on the opposite 

 side of the crack, and holding himself up with its aid, 

 and the arm he had got over the edge of the ice, he 

 waited patiently for Johansen to come and pull him 

 out. When he thought a long time had passed and 

 felt the staff giving way and the water creeping further 

 up his body, he called out but received no answer ; and 

 it was not until the water had reached his chest that 

 Johansen came and pulled him out. 



For a few days they were storm-bound. On the 

 3rd of June they started again down the channel, their 

 whereabouts still a mystery to them, nothing in the 

 least like it being on their map. Nine days after- 

 wards, after rounding Cape Barents on Northbrook 

 Island, the kayaks, which had been left moored to the 

 edge of the ice, got adrift. Nansen, running down 

 from the hummock, from which he had been looking 

 round, threw off some of his clothes and sprang into 

 the water. The wind was off the ice, and the kayaks 

 with their high rigging were moving away as fast as 

 he could swim. It seemed more than doubtful if he 

 could reach them. But all their hope was there, all 

 they had was on board ; they had not even a knife 

 with them, and whether he sank or turned back 

 amounted to much the same thing. When he tired 

 he turned over and swam on his back, and then he 

 could see Johansen walking restlessly up and down on 

 the ice, unable to do anything, and having the worst 

 time he ever lived through. But the wind lulled, and 

 when Nansen turned over he saw he was nearing the 

 kayaks, and though his limbs were stiffening and 



