454 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



any moment of the lantern which Wilkins was to keep burning at 

 the masthead every night until I should arrive. 



On the assumption that the ship was on the beach my task was 

 to follow the beach. In the darkness this was not easy. The only 

 certain way was to zigzag at sharp angles, going first inland till 

 you were sure you were on the land and then to seaward till you 

 were sure you were on the ice. As usual under such circumstances, 

 I frequently had to drop on my knees and dig with my knife 

 until I found whether I was on ice or land. On account of this 

 same thickness of weather I made the angles by which I turned 

 landward and seaward so sharp that I probably had to walk four 

 miles to advance one. But this is a game which always interests 

 me, and although the advance was slow I did not find it tedious. 

 I felt sure that eventually I must come upon the ship. Some of 

 the keenest pleasures come from mere relief from discomfort and 

 from a consciousness of one's fortunate situation as compared to 

 a possibility that is close at hand and easily realized. I have 

 always found that the pleasure of homecoming is keener the more 

 difficult it is to find the way, and I looked forward with lively an- 

 ticipation to my entrance into the warm camp. I knew Wilkins 

 was there and I especially looked forward to finding Emiu safe and 

 sound, an eventuality of which I had almost convinced myself. 



When the weather was about as thick as possible, somewhere 

 between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, I estimated that I 

 was still over five miles from the ship. At the rate of one mile 

 of advance for four miles of walking I must have been forging 

 ahead at perhaps three-quarters of a mile per hour. This should 

 have meant arrival before midnight. But midnight came and I 

 had discovered nothing. I could not have missed her, so I kept 

 on and on, until about five o'clock in the morning. I knew that 

 by any sort of calculation I must be far beyond my destination. 



I tried to recall everything Wilkins had told me about the Star's 

 exact location, but nothing came to my mind except his statement, 

 remembered clearly, "the Star is perfectly safe from ice pressure, 

 hauled out in the shelter of an island which is near the mainland." 

 This I had understood to mean that the ship was on the mainland 

 sheltered from ice pressure by an island, but I now saw that it 

 must have meant she was on the landward side of an island. Wil- 

 kins had not said how far this island was from the beach, and 

 there was practically no hope of finding the ship until I should have 

 weather clear enough to get visibility of several hundred yards. 



