70 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



see whether we can get to it." He walked 

 along the ice at the foot of the rocks, now 

 standing for a moment, now running a few 

 steps, now clinging to the stones, and we 

 watched him in silence. He came back pre- 

 sently and called to us to follow ; and then 

 began the race along the fringe of ice at the 

 foot of the cliffs. On the left the wall of rock 

 rose steeply ; on the right the black water 

 churned and tumbled and ground the floating 

 pans of ice together ; the ice beneath rocked 

 and heaved with the force of the waves, and 

 here and there the water came swilling over. 

 In front was a racing sled, with Johannes 

 sitting on it and yelling " Hu-it (go on), hu-it, 

 hu-it " to his dogs ; and our teams were 

 following at safe intervals, galloping as fast 

 as their feet would carry them. " Sit tight, 

 sit tight," said the drivers ; and there we sat, 

 bowling along over the heaving ice. Some- 

 times one of the men pushed out a leg to 

 guide the sled round a bend or to check it 

 where it seemed likely to slip sideways : they 

 said nothing ; just sat there and chewed at 

 their pipes, and left the dogs to follow the 

 voice that shouted unceasingly in front. At 

 the place where the guide led us on to the 

 headland the ice was broken away from the 

 rock, and was rising and falling with the swell. 



