CHAPTER XIII 



CAPE SHERIDAN AT LAST 



TO put it mildly, the position in which we now 

 found ourselves was dangerous — even with 

 the assistance of so experienced and steady 

 an ice fighter as Bartlett. As day followed day 

 and still we hung there at Lincoln Bay, we should 

 doubtless have been extremely anxious had the Roose- 

 velt not had a similar experience on the preceding 

 voyage. But we believed that sooner or later the 

 movement of the ice would enable us to steam the few 

 remaining miles to Cape Sheridan, and possibly be- 

 yond there; for our objective point was some twenty- 

 five miles to the northwest of our former winter 

 quarters in 1905-06. We tried to possess our souls in 

 patience, and if sometimes the delay got on our nerves, 

 there was nothing to be gained by talking about it. 



On the first of September the ice did not seem 

 to be moving quite so rapidly. The evening before 

 MacMillan had been sent ashore to the bluffs beyond 

 Shelter River, and he had reported that there was 

 considerable open water along the shore. Bartlett 

 then went forward to reconnoiter. On his return 

 he also reported open water, but with corners of big 

 floes barring it in every direction. 



That the fall hunting might get under way, Ootah, 

 Aletah, Ooblooyah, and Ookeyah started off for the 



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