368 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



without a rest and still feel as if we could run for ten hours 

 more, only it was a pity that the days were so short. 



We reached Corvins coal mines at 6.30 P.M. on December i, 

 and to our joy found some natives living there. They had 

 nothing to eat, so we cooked the last of our food and went out 

 with a gun, selected our poorest dog, pressed the barrel against 

 his head, pulled the trigger, and a spasmodic twitching of the 

 legs was his last movement in life. Then a knife was taken 

 out, the dog was ripped open, the carcase cut into pieces, and 

 each of our dogs got a piece, envied and hotly attacked by 

 all the others. Then we were ready for sleep, for the morrow 

 ought to see us on the trail again, travelling with full speed 

 toward Point Hope, as we had now no more to eat. 



An ominous noise was the first thing which greeted us on 

 Monday, the 2nd ; the wind was blowing hard, the snow was 

 drifting, and we turned out to see from what quarter the wind 

 had risen. Luckily it was blowing from the east, right in our 

 backs ; so, after eating the cold remnants of last night's supper 

 and drinking some tea, we hitched our dogs and started, 

 carried along by the strong wind, which raised such a snow- 

 drift that we could only see a darkness to the south of us 

 where the steep mountains joined the edge of the water. The 

 twenty-eight miles between the coal mines and Cape Lisburne 

 were covered in seven and a half hours, though it was almost 

 the worst weather I had ever travelled in. The man in front, 

 who was only a few feet ahead of the foremost dog, could 

 hardly see the blurred form of his travelling companion running 

 along the side of the sledge, whip in hand, forcing the whimper- 

 ing animals ahead. We had nothing to eat except half a dog, 

 no fuel was to be found on this steep coast, and, worse than 

 either, no tent could stand against the furious blast of wind 

 which every now and then swept down from the perpendicular 

 cliffs. But on we went apace, and at 3.10 P.M. we saw the first 

 house of the rather large village of Weyok, then only 10 feet 

 distant. In a surprisingly short time it became known that 

 travellers from the north had come into camp, and people 

 emerged from the snowdrift, all eager to help. We were 

 hustled into a house, our frozen iurs were pulled off, and soon 

 we had a bowl of scalding hot tea before us. The people asked 

 for my food, and I was forced to tell them that I had nothing 



