IN SUMMER WATERS. DISAPPOINTED HOPES. 199 



The steamer was going north-east, and I took it to be a ship which 

 was looking for Peary, and which probably had letters on board for 

 us. As I could tell from the air that there was open water in 

 a north-easterly direction, and thought, moreover, that our channel 

 was in connection with the open water in Smith Sound, I steered 

 eastward in order, if possible, to meet the ship ; while we plainly 

 saw that she also was manoeuvring with a similar end in view. 



A sudden thrill of joy ran through us all. In an hour or two, 

 perhaps, we should be hearing from home. Our hearts seemed to 

 swell it is no trifle, this not knowing anything of those at home, 

 and what may have happened to them. But some four or five 

 miles from each other, we were stopped by a belt of ice. Only 

 this narrow strip between us and the letters from home ! They 

 were longing looks which sped across the ice that day ! 



Thus we lay and looked at each other for a time. Then the 

 American signalled that she had letters on board for us, and 

 steered off southward I thought she must be going to Foulke 

 Fjord. We then steered west for a little way, but were soon 

 obliged to moor again to the side of the channel. 



A fresh southerly breeze had been blowing for some time, and 

 when it took to increasing, we felt sure that we might expect 

 another gale from the south. We accordingly put out some ice- 

 anchors, and settled down to listen to the storm, which howled 

 round us for three days in succession ; while the ice in Kane Basin 

 became closer and closer, for the whok! pack was drifting north- 

 ward and we with it. At our farthest point north we were about 

 abreast of Cape Hawks ; but we saw from the atmosphere that if 

 we had been able to get under land the first day, at Cape Albert, we 

 might by following it have been by this a good way further north. 



We hoped that, after the storm, the ice would slacken, and we 

 should be able to work our way up north. But so far was this from 

 being the case, that when the gale had blown itself out, the whole 

 pack drifted slowly and soberly southwards, every bit as close as 

 ever, and we could do nothing but remain where we were. It was a 

 grain of comfort, however, to know that the ice down towards Smith 

 Sound was beginning to slacken ; and as day by day the slackening 

 made itself felt a little farther north, and the whole mass of 



