254 



CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



a suitable crossing, we saw a floe come drifting down along it, 

 now rubbing a corner off on the east side of the lane, and shortly 

 afterwards colliding with the western side. This was our 

 chance, and we travelled along the edge to catch it while it was 

 in close contact with our side. At last a corner touched ; I ran 

 out on the floe with my sledge, crying to the dogs behind to 



SOFT DEEP SNOW BETWEEN THE RUBBLE. 



follow. Whips cracked, and Mr. Leffingwell and Storkersen 

 forced their unwilling animals on to the unsteady floe. Then 

 we were adrift and pulled across, waiting for the floe to grind 

 along the eastern edge. A corner touched, once more a furious 

 yelling at the dogs, mingled with their yelps of pain when the 

 lash descended across their backs, an all-men's-pull to start the 

 sledge, and we were across. The whole thing took perhaps three 

 minutes, and the floe was drifting so fast that our place of 

 departure was about forty yards to the windward of where 

 we landed on the other side ; things were moving fast to-day. 



Then commenced a disheartening toil over rough ice, deep, 

 soft, and sticky snow, until again half a mile further on we were 

 brought up by a lane, in places at least a quarter of a mile wide. 

 Mr. Leffingwell took a run along the edge to the north, to look 

 for a crossing, while we took a sounding, or tried to take one, 

 for we ran out five hundred metres of line without being able to 



