RECOVERING THE KAYAKS 101 



losing all feeling, he put all the strength he could into 

 his strokes, and eventually was able to reach them. 

 He tried to pull himself up, but was so stiff with cold 

 that he could not do so. For a moment he thought 

 he was too late ; but after a little he managed to swing 

 one leg up on to the edge of the sledge, which lay on 

 the deck, and in this way he scrambled on board. 

 The kayaks were lashed together so as to form a 

 double boat, and the only way in which, owing to his 

 stiffness, he could paddle them was to take one or two 

 strokes on one side and then step into the other kayak 

 and take a few strokes on the other side. The return 

 was consequently slow, but it was a return, though 

 the ice was reached a long way from where the drifting 

 had begun. 



Next day but one came another perilous episode. 

 " Towards morning," says Nansen, " we rowed for some 

 time without seeing any walrus, and now felt more 

 secure. Just then we saw a solitary rover pop up a 

 little in front of us. Johansen, who was in front at 

 the time, put in to a sunken ledge of ice ; and although 

 I really thought that this was caution carried to excess, 

 I was on the point of following his example. I had not 

 gone so far, however, when suddenly the walrus shot 

 up beside me, threw himself on to the edge of the kayak, 

 took hold further over the deck with one flipper, and 

 as it tried to upset me aimed a blow at the kayak with 

 its tusks. I held on as tightly as possible, so as not 

 to be upset into the water, and struck at the animal's 

 head with the paddle as hard as I could. It took hold of 

 the kayak once more and tilted me up so that the deck 

 was almost under water, then let go and raised itself 



