338 



FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH 



and took the trail again. The ice was still rough, but 

 with better weather we were able to pick our way more 

 easily, so that we made much better time. The mid- 

 night sun had not yet risen above the horizon, but at 

 two o'clock, when we made camp on the rocks at the 

 foot of the cliffs of C. Hatherton, the clouds above us 

 were rosy with the rays of sunrise. Since the tempera- 

 ture was thirty-six below zero as we boiled our meat and 

 tea for supper, we were quite content to get into our 

 sleeping-bags. 



We rose after a few hours' sleep and went on. The 

 going kept getting better as we proceeded. The last 

 rough ice we encountered was just off Cairn Point, 

 where we had to cut our way with our picks for perhaps 

 half a mile. Once through this last patch of chaos, 

 we stopped long enough to polish our runners and boil 

 some tea, before starting out across Smith Sound. 



I have never driven over better ice than that which 

 extended before us as far as we could see. It was hard 

 as steel, and covered with just enough snow to give the 

 dogs sure footing without balling up between their toes. 

 The dogs sped along with our heavily laden sledges 

 without any effort whatever. In a narrow crack in the 

 young ice seals kept bobbing up, exciting both dogs and 

 Eskimos and stimulating us all with the prospect of 

 fresh meat for camp. We made camp beside a small ice- 

 berg in a pressure ridge that we encountered, where we 

 built two snow houses for the night. E-took-a-shoo har- 

 pooned a fine young seal, fulfilling our hopes of fresh 

 meat. 



Though we did not get into our sleeping-bags until an 

 hour after midnight, we were well fed and warm, though 

 the temperature was lower than the night before. At 



