CHAPTER XXXV. 



THEOUGH HELL GATE. 



A CHANGE of scene had taken place when we turned out the next 

 morning. In falling snow and with a southerly wind, we drove 

 off at our usual hour, following the edge of the pressure-ice all the 

 way to the western headland. When we arrived there we found 

 that the ice was pressed right up to the cliffs, so that we had to 

 get out all our implements, picks, spades, and axes, before we 

 could make our way up to the ice-foot. When once we had brought 

 the sledges up on to it, we got on pretty well for a time, but things 

 soon grew worse, and at last we were continually at a standstill. 

 One or other of the loads was always capsizing, and, as a rule, it 

 required two men to right it again. This sort of thing detains one 

 very much, especially when the caravan is as large as was ours. 

 The worst of it is that it increases the distance between the different 

 sledges, and when one starts again and the dogs pull as if they were 

 possessed as they did that day the pace becomes so fast that one 

 risks smashing up everything on the sledge, while it may even be 

 dangerous for the man with it. 



How those dogs rushed through the driving snow ! When the 

 sledge overturned or stuck fast, and they were unable to move it 

 from the spot, they stood up on their hind-legs, straining and 

 howling with all their might ; and when they felt that the sledge 

 gave a little, they set off long before it was on an even keel again. 

 Such zealous service it would be difficult to match. 



Down in the sound, almost beneath us, were huge masses of 

 ice, chiefly old hummocks and pressure-ridges mixed with lumps 

 of calf-ice, which were all grinding round in the tearing current 

 without ever stopping or ceasing. In some places far, far out in 



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