208 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [Dec. 



to finish, and nearly cost us our lives. As we reached 

 Cape Kendrick we found the ice very thin, but went 

 on, trusting to luck rather than upon our best judgment. 

 In a few minutes my dogs began to shove their feet 

 through the ice, one dropping in completely. Finally, 

 my sledge broke through. YeUing to the dogs, I threw 

 myself forward onto the bow, ready to grasp the traces 

 if the sledge should go under. They immediately re- 

 sponded to the call, straining with every ounce that was 

 in them, and succeeded in pulling the sledge out on to 

 solid ice. 



Now we were in a predicament; it was so dark that 

 we could see but a few yards, and that few yards seemed 

 all open water and thin ice, completely encircling the 

 floe. E-took-a-shoo, after carefully probing for some 

 time with his harpoon, finally located a narrow strip 

 over which we urged the dogs on the run. The young 

 ice bent like leather, but fortunately held. But when 

 we reached the south side of the Crystal Palace Glacier, 

 to our disappointment the sea ice was entirely gone. 

 Plodding along an ice-foot through deep snow in the 

 dark, falling into cracks, at times using all our strength 

 to save our sledges from falling off into the sea ice — 

 well, it was not work that would have appealed to 

 the most ardent enthusiast of the Arctic. We arrived 

 . at Sulwuddy covered with sweat and suffering from 

 thirst. 



Our run the next day to Nerky was without incident 

 until we reached the rough ice off the front of the 

 Diebitsch Glacier. Here in the darkness and deep 

 snow we wandered aimlessly for some time until the 

 stars enabled us to direct our course for Cape Robertson. 

 One day's rest at Nerky for our dogs, and back we 



