CHAPTER XXIII 



HORN SOUND AND HOME 



EARLY on August 12, Starashchin Cape was rounded and 

 Ice Fjord entered in a dense fog, through which the 

 way had to be felt to Advent Bay. At seven a.m., the anchor 

 was dropped in the old anchorage, and we landed, after a 

 most interesting voyage of over 1000 miles — the longest in 

 so small a steamer ever performed in Arctic seas, and I 

 believe, after searching all available records, the most 

 complete coasting voyage around Spitsbergen ever accom- 

 plished in a single summer. Goods and kit were landed 

 and camp pitched by noon, with the accuracy that comes 

 from practice. The tents were within a few inches of high 

 water mark, and the day's spring-tide almost flowed in. A 

 pallid flush of sunshine gleamed for a moment, and Bunting 

 Bluff almost became visible, but the clouds descended before 

 the sun could be seen, and a steady downpour of rain, 

 thoroughly English in type, set in. Garwood now came to 

 me to say that he had arranged with the Expres to take him 

 to Horn Sound, to climb Mount Hedgehog. The engines 

 needed some botching, but the boat would be ready to sail 

 next day (13th), and they would reach Horn Sound on the 

 14th. The Lofoten, the steamer that was to carry us to 

 Norway, was to sail on the 15th. With luck, therefore, they 

 might climb the mountain on the 14th and 15th, in time to 

 run out with the Expres, and tranship to the Lofoten in the 

 open sea. Failing that, the voyage to Norway must be com- 

 pleted in the Expres, which of course had to return to Tromso 



