THE JOURNEY OVER THE PACK ICE 275 



were not strong enough to permit him to ride. I went ahead, 

 and whenever we came to a small drift or a hole, or a point of 

 ice above the surface of the snow, I waited until it was about 

 two steps away from him, then sung out, and he lifted his feet 

 when there was a drift or walked carefully when there was a 

 hole. Every now and then the surface got somewhat rougher 

 and he had to use his eyes a little; everything considered, 

 he fared comparatively well, and we had the satisfaction of 

 finding that his eyes improved a little towards night. It was 

 a hard day for him, wandering along blindfolded and with 

 smarting eyes, but, although he hurt his feet every now and 

 again when he fell or stumbled over the ice, he never com- 

 plained, and not once during the long and dreary day did a 

 cross word escape him. We had made twenty- six miles before 

 we camped at 6 P.M. an excellent day's work. 



Sunday, May 12. Last night we had seen either land or a 

 very heavy pressure-ridge ahead, and as soon as we had packed 

 up we started for it. It was an immense pressure-ridge, or 

 rather a succession of ridges, but so close together that they 

 practically formed one, and some of the blocks on the top of 

 the ridge were, I think, about 25 feet above the level ice. The 

 width of the ridge was nearly one hundred yards. From its top 

 we could see the lagoon ice, stretching away southward, and, 

 further beyond, a low black line showed where the land was. 

 We had very hard work in getting our sledges across, but at 

 length we succeeded, and we were on the trail towards the ship, 

 towards home, where we could get all kinds of comfort and good 

 things to eat. About 9 A.M. we saw that the dogs behaved rather 

 strangely ; they sniffed, looked up to windward, yelped a little, 

 and kept on breaking away from the trail towards the rough 

 ice. We swept the horizon with pur glasses, and to our great 

 joy we saw a large topek (native tent). The dogs grew wild 

 when they saw that we altered the course for the tent, and to 

 show us what they could do they rushed into the camp at a 

 run, with all three of us riding. 



We had not gone far, not more than ten miles, but this tent 

 was too good to look at, and we decided to camp at once. 



But before we pitched our tent we sat down in the native 

 abode, close in front of the fire, and felt for the first time for 

 many and many a day the pleasant glow of a big hot fire. It was 



T 2 



