40 XEW LAND. 



in their eagerness to go on board. And those aboard, of course, 

 settled down and were quiet ? Not a bit of it they made more 

 noise and commotion than even the others. Their clamour, in all 

 probability, was only caused by joy at going on board again, for a 

 howl is their one expression for all kinds of feeling. As a rule, 

 however, their contentment was short-lived, for they were restless 

 creatures, always wanting to be where they were not. When 

 they were on the ice, the ship or the kennels was the one object 

 of their desire ; on board or in the kennels, all they wanted was 

 to be on the ice. Very often they scratched a way out of their 

 kennels ; but we had only to shut the doors while they were still 

 .on the ice for the kennels suddenly to become a paradise, and they 

 burrowed a way in again or, at any rate, made a praiseworthy 

 attempt to do so. There was something quite human about them. 



Only the dogs had to be taken on board that morning ; the 

 forge and the other things we had on land had been brought to 

 the ship the previous day. Shipping the dogs was accomplished 

 by about eleven, and at noon we weighed anchor and steamed out 

 from our second winter quarters. 



Where should we be next winter ? 



Through the ice-free sound all went well ; but farther out, east 

 of the rocks, we entered the ice, and lay there ramming the whole 

 day long. Whenever we got a chance we forged on full speed 

 ahead ; and when perforce we came to a standstill, we backed to 

 get an impetus, and gave another ram. Sometimes we all turned 

 out on the ice with poles and boat-hooks to prise off some floe or 

 other which had given us particular trouble. We stood due south 

 until morning watch on Friday, by which time, having forced a 

 way through the ice-belt, we could set the course westward in 

 open water. 



Jones Sound was still lying smooth as a mirror ; but dead it 

 certainly was not, for round the bows of the vessel gambolled a 

 school of harp seals. Some of them made their graceful bounds 

 above the surface of the water, and, curving their bodies, described 

 a half-circle before diving head first under again. There is no 

 falling flat on the water with these animals. Others among them 



