FINAL SPURT BEGUN 279 



month. Now it seemed no longer a friend, but a dan- 

 gerous presence to be regarded with fear. Its power, 

 which had before been beneficent, was now malevolent 

 and incalculably potent for evil. 



When we awoke early in the morning of April 3, 

 after a few hours' sleep, we found the weather still 

 clear and calm. There were some broad heavy pres- 

 sure ridges in the beginning of this march, and we had 

 to use pickaxes quite freely. This delayed us a little, 

 but as soon as we struck the level old floes we tried to 

 make up for lost time. As the daylight was now con- 

 tinuous we could travel as long as we pleased and sleep 

 as little as we must. We hustled along for ten hours 

 again, as we had before, making only twenty miles, 

 because of the early delay with the pickaxes and 

 another brief delay at a narrow lead. We were now 

 half-way to the 89th parallel, and I had been obliged 

 to take up another hole in my belt. 



Some gigantic rafters were seen during this march, 

 but they were not in our path. All day long we had 

 heard the ice grinding and groaning on all sides of us, 

 but no motion was visible to our eyes. Either the 

 ice was slacking back into equilibrium, sagging north- 

 ward after its release from the wind pressure, or else 

 it was feeling the influence of the spring tides of the 

 full moon. On, on we pushed, and I am not ashamed 

 to confess that my pulse beat high, for the breath of 

 success seemed already in my nostrils. 



