236 ACROSS THE ST. LAWRENCE 



our return. They were then about one mile and 

 a half off shore, in a bay formed by the jagged 

 edge of the ice that was coming from the west and 

 inside of them, and nearly meeting that from the 

 east. I saw at a glance that this channel of clear 

 water was closing fast, and waved to them a dan- 

 ger signal with my paddle. They were so occu- 

 pied with their chase of the wounded seal, how- 

 ever, that they did not notice me. In the mean- 

 time we had gradually neared this gap, which 

 was rapidly closing upon them. To make 

 things worse the wind was rising fast and threat- 

 ened a gale. One canoe alone, closed in that 

 slush, meant certain death : for two there was a 

 chance of getting out. 



Turning to my brother, I said, "What do you 

 say to going in and helping them?" 



"Do what you think best," was his answer. 



We pushed out and one minute later the ice 

 closed behind us. The Labries had now realized 

 their danger, and were rowing towards us with 

 all their might. Steadily the ice came down, in- 

 creasing the width of the barrier behind us, and 

 the wind and current setting us out from shore. 

 When the canoe joined us the open space of water 

 was reduced to a few hundred yards with a quar- 

 ter mile barrier of slush ahead of us. A few 

 minutes later we were quite surrounded. 



Paddling or rowing in slush ice is an impos- 

 sible thing. The canoe sticks fast in it and will 



