CHAPTER XVIII. 



IN SUMMER WATERS. DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 



ON Friday, August 4, I decided to make an attempt to proceed 

 up through Kane Basin. I was quite aware that the conditions 

 were about as hopeless as they could be, but I thought that the 

 attempt ought to be made, and, at any rate, circumstances had 

 never yet been more in our favour. 



We, therefore, weighed anchor during the forenoon, and steamed 

 northwards in nice quiet weather. Things went fairly well till we 

 were abreast of Cape Camperdown, where I hoped to be able to get 

 close under land and thus forge on northward. But there was 

 hardly so much as a crack to be seen, and the ice compelled us to 

 steer more and more to the east. Several times we stuck for an 

 hour or two at a time, and then the ice would slacken and we 

 crashed through it for a couple of ship's-lengths. At last our 

 course became due east, and as that was not the direction in which 

 I wanted to go, we moored to the ice. Even had we wished to go 

 due east, it would soon have become impossible ; and during the 

 night the ice packed even closer. 



Meanwhile, we made use of the time to rig up the winding 

 tackle, so that the rudder could be raised at any moment, 

 if the ice should begin to jam in earnest ; but the ice here was 

 almost motionless. During the night it so far slackened, that we 

 were able to push through to a lane which ran due east, and which 

 we hoped would bring us in the desired direction if we followed its 

 northern edge. 



While we were engaged in doing this, and expending great 

 energy on it, we suddenly saw the smoke of a steamer issuing from 

 Payer Harbour, and shortly afterwards the masts became visible. 



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