220 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



Between them there was very rough ice, in belts from three 

 hundred to five hundred yards, but, though we had to hew 

 a road through it and double up to get the sledges over, we 

 eventually succeeded. At 2 P.M. we came to a newly-opened 

 lane about twenty yards wide, but with heavy ice on either side. 

 There was no possible chance of crossing it, and we had to 

 camp. From a hill about twenty-five feet high we could see 

 the channel extending east and west, but to the north the ice 

 looked good. We relashed and strengthened Mr. Leffingwell's 

 sledge, and made a good job of it, but it took us till 7.20 P.M. 

 before we were ready. I have had more pleasant jobs to 

 perform than lashing a sledge in 25 to 30 C., and we 

 had to make small excursions into the tent, where Mr. Leffing- 

 \vell had tea ready for us. It is his turn to be cook now, and 

 he is not a bad one either. We took a longitude, and found to 

 our surprise that we were about thirty miles to the west of our 

 starting point, so it is evident that the current must be stronger 

 than we ever expected. Poor " Unimack " is going fast. He 

 has been in great pain all day, but we must get as much work 

 out of him as we can, and although we should have liked to make 

 his last hours as bearable as possible, we had no option but to 

 keep him in harness. And, strange as it may sound, we got a 

 great deal of work out of him. He is tied close to the sledge 

 and works hard to catch up with the dogs ahead of him for the 

 ignoble purpose of biting them. The dogs ahead are well 

 aware of his intentions, and pull much harder than usual in 

 order to keep away from him ; so, upon the whole, we get more 

 work out of the team than ever before. But for all that 

 " Unimack " will not last long; he is suffering terribly, and will 

 lie down and groan and whimper so that it cuts us to the heart 

 to listen to him. He got hold of my small stereoscopic camera 

 during the night and almost devoured it as well as everything 

 else which came within his reach. It is a strange disease; it may 

 not be rabies, but it looks uncomfortably like it. " Unimack " 

 snaps at everything; the foam is standing out of his mouth, 

 his eyes are bright and staring, he jumps in his chain, tugs at 

 it, bites at it, and then all of a sudden collapses, lies down, 

 bites his own stomach and groans with pain, lies still for a little 

 while, and then is up again, tugging at his chain and biting 

 everything, chain, snow, or ice, if no other dog happens to be 



