In the Later Days 399 



at the end of June, they were able to pass through 

 the strait into the Arctic Ocean. During July 

 all but one, the Oriole, Captain H. S. Hayes, 

 followed the Alaska coast until within a few 

 miles of Icy Cape, and finally, early in August, 

 some of them were able to reach up past Wain- 

 wright Inlet, and almost to Point Belcher. Dur- 

 ing all this time they were never for a moment 

 out of sight of the unbounded ice of the Arctic 

 Ocean, save only when the fogs shut them in. 

 The open water stretching along the coast was 

 never more than ten miles wide at most; it was 

 commonly no more than three or four, and it 

 was in this narrow lead that the fleet worked 

 along to the points mentioned. They were at 

 anchor every night and sometimes for days at 

 a stretch. The open lead was flecked over with 

 cakes of loose ice which varied in size from that 

 of a country schoolhouse up to that of a city 

 block. In among these blocks of ice the whales 

 appeared, now and then, jetting their vapory 

 breath into the freezing cold air. Indeed, "green" 

 lookouts sometimes mistook the spray of a wave 

 that was dashed against the weather side of a 



