56 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



This had happened. The watch had been badly kept. 

 At half-past six ice had been reported, coming up. The 

 engine had only half pressure (25 lbs.) on. The ice 

 came up with extraordinary rapidity right in the face of 

 the wind. Nearer and nearer it had come until it was 

 close up to the vessel's screw. Mercifully the steam 

 was just up — but only at that moment — and we had 

 slipped out of the dragon's mouth. It had been a 

 narrow squeak — too narrow to be pleasant by a very 

 long way. I must confess I was glad I hadn't been on 

 deck a moment before. If a block of that ice had 

 touched our screw ten chances to one we should have 

 paid dearly for it. Had I been on deck an hour ago 

 we should then have been tacking away. Vain questions 

 do no good. We didn't ask the skipper why he hadn't 

 tried the sails. All the men were very grave and silent. 

 They had all had an object-lesson which they would 

 not soon forget. 



We had now, however, a little notion of what this ice 

 really was. It was, as the skipper put it, 'real, solid, 

 poJar ice — same as we had in Smith's Sound.' Rough, 

 jagged, tumbled, hummocky, it had come, setting south- 

 westward, from the Novaya Zemblya seas. 



As long as I live I shall regret this day because of a 

 fatal mistake. We should have landed at Kriva for good 

 and all ; and we didn't. We could have done it, but we 

 lost the chance, and it never came again. 



Reluctantly, slowly, we moved up in front of the ice. 



