370 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



the shore. We worked very hard, Alexis' men coming 

 to help. We sent the boat out to drop a kedge, and 

 then some hauled on the line while others punted with 

 the ' pomorrna.' I suppose most of us are happiest when 

 we have real hard muscular work to do ; when one can 

 thoroughly let oneself out, so to say, until one can't move 

 another finger. These poor fellows all worked in silence, 

 so I started a chant, which they tried to follow till we 

 were all howling different tunes like demons. Then I 

 wove the days of the week into a rough sing-song and 

 cheered when Sunday came, and, poor chaps ! they got 

 very enthusiastic about this, and pounced down on 

 Sunday with such a squall, you never heard anything 

 like it. But this inch-by-inch work is very severe : we 

 only made some half mile, if that, and at last the wind 

 raged so wildly that eleven men on the rope could not 

 move her half-an-inch, and it really was not safe to send 

 out the boat. So we stayed. 



Alexander was fairly astonished, and said more com- 

 plimentary things about Queen Victoria, and her islands, 

 and her wonderful Englishmen, than modesty will let me 

 repeat here. Frankly, I was glad to feel that all past 

 unpleasantness was now wiped out. 



We did manage to get our boat off to the other 

 karbass, but she could not return. 



And the following day a northerly gale raged, with 

 pelting rain. The capstan creaked so badly that we 

 feared it would go, and so the chain cable was wound 



