WE BREAK ALL RECORDS 261 



Then I turned to consider our own position. Our 

 two igloos, Henson's and mine, were on a small piece 

 of old floe, separated by a crack and a low pressure 

 ridge, a few yards away, from a large floe lying to the 

 west of us. It was clear that it would take very little 

 strain or pressure to detach us and set us afloat also 

 like Bartlett's division. 



I routed Henson and his men out of their igloo, 

 gave orders to everybody to pack and hitch up imme- 

 diately, and, while this was being done, leveled a path 

 across the crack to the big floe at the west of us. This 

 was done with a pickax, leveling the ice down into 

 the crack, so as to make a continuous surface over 

 which the sledges could pass. As soon as the loads 

 were across and we were safe on the floe, we all went to 

 the edge of the lead and stood ready to assist Bart- 

 lett's men in rushing their sledges across the moment 

 their ice raft should touch our side. 



Slowly the raft drifted nearer and nearer, until 

 the side of it crunched against the floe. The two edges 

 being fairly even, the raft lay alongside us as a boat 

 lies against a wharf, and we had no trouble in getting 

 Bartlett's men and sledges across and onto the floe 

 with us. 



Though there is always a possibility that a lead 

 may open directly across a floe as large as this one, 

 we could not waste our sleeping hours in sitting up to 

 watch for it. Our former igloos being lost to us, there 

 was nothing to do but to build another set and turn in 

 immediately. It goes without saying that this extra 

 work was not particularly agreeable. That night we 

 slept with our mittens on, ready at a moment's notice 



