THE FLOE BREAKING UP. 265 



heard under the ice. " It was a scraping, blustering, crackling, sawing, grating, and jarring 

 sound, as if some unhappy ghost was wandering under our floe." Perplexed, they all jumped 

 out, but could detect no change. They lay down, and applying their ears to the floor, could 

 hear a rustling like the singing of ice when closely jammed, and as if water were running 

 under the floe. They felt that there was great danger of a break-up, either from being 

 driven over sunken rocks or against the fixed ice of the coast, or, may-be, both at once, and 

 they packed their furs and filled their knapsacks with provisions. Ropes from the house 

 were fastened to the boats, so that in case of a catastrophe they might be able to reach 

 them. But the driving snow was so terrible that they hardly dare move, and they passed a 

 night of misery, expecting each minute to be their last. At nine next morning the longed-for 

 twilight appeared, and an hour later the wind abated a little. Some of them went in the 

 direction of the "quay," for thus had they christened the spot, 500 steps from the house, 

 where the sunken Ilansa lay. They there found a new wall of ice, and recognised to their 

 horror that this wall was now the boundary of their floe, whilst on all sides of it large 

 pieces had broken off, and rose in dark shapeless masses out of the* drifted snow. When, 

 on the morning of the 4th, the storm had worn itself out, they found that their floating 

 ice-raft had considerably diminished in size. The diameter, before over two nautical miles, 

 had now reduced to one ; on three sides the house was close to the edges, and on the fourth 

 it was not over 1,000 steps, where it had previously been 3,000. The following days were 

 pretty good, and they got their boats out from the snow, dug out the firewood, and employed 

 themselves in constructing swimming-jackets and snow-shoes out of e&rk, the latter to prevent 

 themselves sinking up to the hips, as they had often done before. 



The days from the llth to the 15th of January were destined to bring new horrors. 

 On the first-named day a heavy storm with driving snow prevailed, in the midst of which the 

 man on watch burst into the house with the alarm, " All hands turn out ! " Hastily 

 gathering their furs and knapsacks, they rushed to the door, to see it almost completely 

 snowed up. To gain the outside quickly they broke through the snow-roof, to find that the 

 tumult of the elements was something beyond anything they had previously experienced. 

 Scarcely able to move from the spot, they huddled together for warmth and mutual protection. 

 Suddenly a new cry arose : " Water on the floe close by ! " The heavy waves washed over the 

 ice : the field began to break on all sides. On the spot between the house and the piled-up 

 wood, a gap opened. All seemed lost. The firewood was drifting into the raging sea ; the 

 boats were in danger, and without this last resource, what would they do ? The community 

 was divided into two parts. Sadly, though hastily, these brave Germans bade each other 

 good-bye, for none of them expected to see the morrow. Cowering in the shelter of their 

 boats, they stood shivering all day, the fine pricking snow penetrating their very clothes. 

 Their floe, from its last diameter, about a mile, had dwindled to 150 feet. Towards 

 evening, the heavy sea subsided, and the ice began to again pack and freeze together. Shortly 

 after midnight a new terror arose, the sailor on watch rushing in with the information that 

 they were drifting on an iceberg. All rushed to the entrance, where they could, in the midnight 

 gloom, distinguish a huge mass of ice, of giant proportions. " It is past," said the captain. Was 

 it realty an iceberg, the mirage of one, or the high coast ? They could not decide the question, 

 for owing to the rapidity of the drift, the ghastly object had disappeared the next moment. 

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