DRIFTING TO THE SOUTH. 127 



nor'-east and continual driving snow at 16° to 14° Falir. 

 In the morning, we tliought we heard a pecuhar rusthng 

 noise as if some one was shuffling his feet on the floor ; 

 but as it was soon over we took no further notice. In 

 the afternoon, as we were resting after dinner, we sud- 

 denly heard the same rustle, but much louder. It was 

 a scraping, blustering, crackling, sawing, grating, and 

 jarring sound, as if some unhappy ghost was wandering 

 under our floe. Perplexed we all jumped up, and went 

 out; we thought that our store-house had fallen in. 

 Some of the sailors going in front with the lamp care- 

 fully searched the path to it. But in whatever du^ection 

 the light fell on the sparkling and glittering ice-walls, 

 we saw nothing. Immovable hung the rigid icicles often 

 a foot long; evidently nothing was amiss here. We 

 rummaged in the snow-path before the house. Although 

 completely snowed up (indeed, the whole house was 

 buried more than a foot deep in ice), we all rushed out, 

 but of course we could not see more than ten steps, 

 nor hear anything but the howling of the storm. Still, 

 between whiles, we could detect the same rubbing and 

 grinding. For a change, we laid ourselves flat down 

 with our ears to the floor, and could then hear a rust- 

 ling like the singing of ice when closely jammed, and as 

 if water was running under our great floe. There could 

 be no doubt but that it stood in gi^eat danger of being 

 smashed to pieces, either from drifting over sunken 

 rocks and bursting up, or breaking against the ice 

 border ; perhaps both at once. 



We packed our furs, and filled our knapsacks with 

 provisions. Our position, if the floe should be destroyed, 

 seemed hopeless. Certainly ropes were fastened from the 



