DR. HAYES' TERRIBLE BOAT TRIP 383 



theirs was incomparably worse. Soon after we left them, the protecting 

 floes to the north shifted their position ; and from that time until the storm 

 subsided, they were frightfully exposed. The waves rolled in upon them, 

 frequently breaking over the floe on which they were, while the spray flew 

 over them continually. They wrapped the bread-bags in a piece of India- 

 rubber cloth, and thus kept them tolerably dry; but everything else became 

 thoroughly soaked, — clothes, buffaloes, and blankets, especially. They 

 pitched their tent and tried to get some rest, but the water very soon drowned 

 them out. They tried to cook some coffee, but the spray extinguished their 

 lamp. They were thirty hours without water to drink, and during all that 

 time they tasted nothing warm, their sole provision being cold pork and 

 bread. Their suffering was great, and our tale sounded tamely enough after 

 theirs. 



"I questioned John why he had so recklessly exposed his life ; he 'wanted 

 to see what had become of them.' He did not see them when he started; 

 had no certain knowledge as to where they were; he only wanted to 'look 

 them up.' " 



After this terrible experience the Hope once more put to sea, and the 

 party was lucky enough to find another boat, called "Ironsides," deserted 

 by Kane the year before. The party divided into two crews. 



"We pulled out from under the land," says the narrator, "to catch the 

 wind which still blew lightly from the northeast; and spreading our canvas 

 we gave three lusty cheers for Upernavik, and stood away for Cape Alex- 

 ander, which was fourteen miles distant. A watch was set in each boat. 

 Peterson took the steering oar of the Hope, John that of the Ironsides, and 

 the rest of the crews crawled under their blankets and buffalo robes. 



"Soon after our starting, an ominous cloud was observed creeping up the 

 northern sky. As it spread itself overhead, the wind freshened, and after 

 fluttering through a squall, settled into a heavy blow. The white-caps multi- 

 plied behind us, and everything looked suspicious; but whatever might be our 

 misgivings as to the fortune in store for us, out at sea in a storm, with our 

 frail heavily laden boats, we could do nothing but hold our course, and take 

 the risks. To run back under the land which we had just left, did not at all 

 accord with our tastes, nor with the nature of our undertaking. Off the lar- 

 board bow lay a long line of iron-bound coast which offered no sign of a 

 harbor. Come what might, we must keep on, and sink or swim off Cape 

 Alexander. 



