116 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [Aug. 



of blue water which was a half-mile distant. It was a 

 race between our engine and the hard, bluish - white, 

 relentless jaws of a slowly closing trap. The trap won. 

 The boat was lifted almost completely out of water and 

 rolled over on her side on the pan. The lift saved her. 

 When the pressure relaxed somewhat, we chopped the 

 ice away with axes and gently lowered her back again 

 into the water. When the engine was started, she ran 

 around in circles, like a crippled duck, until the cause 

 was discovered — a badly twisted rudder, which, when 

 properly adjusted, steered us straight back to Etah. 

 We had had enough for one day. 



On the 23d, Jot and Ekblaw received instructions to 

 proceed south with our Eskimos in the power-boat to 

 Sulwuddy, where they were to hunt walrus and seal 

 and bring all the meat in cache to Etah. 



A heavy snow-storm on August 25th was followed by 

 a strange quietness which reigned throughout the fiord. 

 Our cheerful neighbors, the little auks, had gone south — 

 conclusive proof of the drawing to an end of our long, 

 delightful summer. 



The 30th was a red-letter day. A number of them, 

 in fact! I received sixty-two! Our power-boat chug- 

 chugged into the harbor loaded with dogs, boxes, and 

 mail. Just below Cape Alexander the boys had met 

 Peter Freuchen, Danish trader at North Star Bay, 

 bound for Etah with Ekblaw's dogs, which he had left 

 at Umanak, and with mail from home via Copenhagen, 

 Denmark, by means of Rasmussen's ship, which had 

 lately arrived at the trading-station, 120 miles to the 

 south. A heavy wind and rough sea compelled Freuchen 

 to give up the attempt and to transfer everything to our 

 boat. 



