THE GOING OF THE SUN 121 



haps death. Awhella's sledge, more heavily loaded 

 than the rest, did break through, but fortunately at 

 a moment when it was leaving the flimsy young ice 

 for a solid pan, and the combined effort of all was 

 required to rescue it. 



When Etah was at length reached, all of the 

 Eskimos had frozen faces and my own nose and 

 cheeks were frost-bitten. A gale from the north- 

 west, too strong and piercing to face, had arisen and 

 we went into camp for a day before proceeding on 

 to Annootok. 



Northward from Etah the traveling was even 

 worse than on the southward journey. One dog was 

 lost in a crevasse. Once we were entangled among 

 icebergs, and in some places so rough was the travel- 

 ing that I found it impossible to walk upright, and 

 was forced to crawl on hands and knees. But after 

 a long hard journey our quarters were reached. 





