266 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



that the lane which had stopped our progress last night had 

 opened up instead of closing and was about three hundred 

 yards wide. 



Mr. Leffingwell and myself went out to look for a crossing 

 and found a place about a mile further down, where the slush 

 ice had been pressed together so hard that it could carry the 

 sledges. It was not solid, however, and would let us through 

 almost anywhere ; only here and there could we see ice which 

 seemed solid enough to carry us. Storkersen had the sledges 

 ready when we returned, and we crossed the lane, twenty-five to 

 thirty-five yards wide, without any accident whatever, but, of 

 course, we are also now quite expert in navigating sledges over 

 thin ice. Then in rapid succession came lane after lane, and none 

 of them so solid that we could walk over them. As before, how- 

 ever, two or three patches of ice a few yards in diameter 

 would afford us solid footing, and the sledges would slide over 

 the slush, which was pressed together so as to form a com- 

 paratively easy passage. After two hours of this, we were 

 again confronted by a large body of open water and had to rig 

 up our raft. With all our lines tied together, Storkersen and 

 myself started to paddle it across, while Mr. Leffingwell stayed 

 behind to take care of our dogs and outfit. When we came to 

 the end of our line, it did not reach halfway across ; we let it 

 go, and paddled on to see whether there were any prospects of 

 continuous going on the other side. When we reached it, I 

 climbed a hummock about 20 feet high, and I could see water 

 in all directions, only separated by small floes, and progress 

 was perfectly impossible. We returned with the depressing 

 news, and Mr. Leffingwell went westward, while I started east 

 to look for a crossing. Mr. Leffingwell found one, a mile to 

 the west, and we commenced again to shoot our sledges over 

 lane after lane, some of them as wide as thirty to forty yards. 

 About noon we came to a wide lane, which sent us in search of 

 another crossing. We found a floe large enough to hold all 

 our outfit and only 10 feet from the floe we were on ; a jump, 

 and one man had boarded the floe, then followed the sledges 

 as fast as they could, the dogs were whipped across, and last 

 of all came Mr. Leffingwell and Storkersen. It was well that 

 it did not take more time, for the floe commenced to move, and 

 we were adrift on a floe about 30 by 40 feet, with all our 



