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WICHE LAND. 



From a Sketch by A . Trevor-Battye. 



CHAPTER XXI 

 HINLOOPEN STRAIT AND WIJDE BAY 



AFTER noon (Aug. 7) the engines were again set going 

 L with the ship's head to the SW., almost retracing her 

 course. At first there was some movement of waves, but 

 when, in about five hours' running, the loose ice was entered, 

 the surface of the water became deathly calm. Off Verlegen 

 Hook the question of whitherward was again mooted. The 

 skipper was for running west, beyond the ice-trap. We 

 preferred any alternative to that. Hinloopen Strait opened 

 invitingly close at hand. Why not run down it, and attempt 

 to circumnavigate Spitsbergen — a feat never accomplished 

 by travellers. If a way was open to the south, it would not 

 matter whether Verlegen Hook were blocked or not. The 

 same north wind that was bringing the pack down on it, was 

 possibly driving the ice away from Olga Strait. Of course, 

 we might find the south entrance to the strait blocked, and 

 be driven to return, and then find ourselves cut off at 

 Verlegen Hook. Walrus sloops before now have been thus 

 circumstanced, and their crews have had to abandon them 

 and beat a retreat in their boats, not always avoiding tragic 

 issues. Such possibilities added zest to the enterprise. W T e 

 determined to accept the hazard. 



