1913] NORTHWARD HO! 7 



the turbulent waters of Baffin Bay she would lighten 

 herself by a daily consumption of nine tons of coal. 



By morning the gale had abated. Clouds and mist 

 rolled away, revealing the southern shores of Labrador 

 on the distant sky-line. And there lay our first ice- 

 berg ! White wanderers of the North, how intensely in- 

 teresting they are ! Often one and even two hundred can 

 be counted from the crosstrees. Not formed in or of salt 

 water, as many believe, but of the compacted snows of 

 centuries, deposited upon the summits of far northern 

 lands, they have slowly crept through winding valleys 

 ever onward toward the sea. During stormy winter 

 months they have listened to the roar of winds and the 

 rustle of drifting snow; during the spring months, to the 

 sound of falling w^aters, to rocks leaping and bounding 

 into space, to the cry of the gull, to the croak of the 

 raven, and to the bark of the fox. At last, born of the 

 parent glacier, they float majestically off to their death 

 in southern seas, beautiful beyond description in their 

 gHttering whiteness, marvelous in their changing colors. 



That bright afternoon when we hugged the Labrador 

 coast, steaming north in smooth waters toward the 

 Straits of Belle Isle, w^as one to remember. The musical 

 talent of the expedition burst forth in song, accompanied 

 by the mandolin and guitar. In the fine voices of Allen 

 and Tanquary were promised hours of entertainment 

 during the long winters of the North. One by one the 

 boys left the quarter-deck to snuggle down in their ham- 

 mocks and wonder, nov/ they were entering the outer 

 gates of dreamland, what to-morrow had in store for 

 them. The lights in the fishermen's huts of Red Bay 

 winked and blinked us to sleep. 



A little after midnight came a nerve-racking vibration 



