WE BREAK ALL RECORDS 263 



fearing there might be a defect in the wire which would 

 lose us more of it, as we were desirous of keeping all 

 that we had for a sounding at our "farthest north," 

 which we hoped would be at the Pole itself. I had 

 only one sounding lead now left, and I would not let 

 Bartlett risk it at this point, but had him use a pair 

 of sledge shoes (brought along for this very purpose 

 from the last broken up sledge) to carry the line down. 

 When our watches told us that it was bedtime — 

 for we were now in the period of perpetual sunlight — 

 we again turned into the igloos which had been hur- 

 riedly built after our exciting experience the night 

 before. A low murmur as of distant surf was issuing 

 from the blackness ahead of us, and steadily growing 

 in volume. To the inexperienced it might have seemed 

 an ominous sound, but to us it was a cheering thing 

 because we knew it meant the narrowing, and perhaps 

 the closing, of the stretch of open water that barred 

 our way. So we slept happily in our frosty huts that 

 "night." 



