160 PHOSPHORESCENCE aN 
morning we broke down our door and tried the 
dogs again. ‘They could hardly stand. <A gale 
now set in from the south-west, obscuring the 
moon and blowing very hard. We were forced 
back into the hut; but after corking up all the 
openings with snow and making a fire with our 
Esquimaux lamp, we got up the temperature to 
30° below zero Fahr.(—34°5° Centigrade), cooked 
coffee, and fed the dogs freely. This done, Peter- 
sen and myself, our clothing frozen stiff, fell asleep 
through pure exhaustion ; the wind outside blow- 
ing death to all that might be exposed to its in- 
fluence. Ido not know how long we slept, but 
my admirable clothing kept me up. I was cold, 
but far from dangerously so, and was im a fair way 
of sleeping out a refreshing night, when Petersen 
woke me with, ‘Captain Kane, the lamp’s out.’ 
T heard him with a thril] of horror.... Our only 
hope was in relighting our lamp. Petersen, acting 
by my directions, made several attempts to obtaim 
fire from a pocket-pistol ; but lis only tinder was 
moss, and our heavily stone-roofed hut or cave 
would not bear the concussion of a rammed wad. 
By good luck I found a bit of tolerably dry paper, 
and becoming apprehensive that Petersen would 
waste our few percussion caps with his ineffectual 
snappings, I determined to take the pistol myself. 
It was so intensely dark that I had to grope for 
it, and in so doing touched his hand. At that 
