GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



The point now is to persist without sleep so that Etah may 

 be reached and the relief sledges fitted out and despatched 

 immediately. During our preparations to break up I decide 

 to kidnap the dogs of the absent reindeer hunters without fur- 

 ther ado. I know they will forgive me as soon as we meet, 

 and the dogs will be returned forthwith from Etah. Unfor- 

 tunately none of the hunters can read, so we must express our- 

 selves by picture-script. The difficulty is solved by Ajako 

 sketching a map of the coast, giving our final route across the 

 inland-ice to Peabody Bay, where four men are drawn. Then 

 three men and two sledges are drawn by the camp of the rein- 

 deer hunters, driving to Etah, and finally beneath it all are the 

 relief sledges hurrying towards the big lake by the inland-ice. 



Then we capture the dogs. Most of them are loose and 

 rather fierce, and do not seem enthusiastic at the idea of being 

 stolen by strangers ; but we succeed in the course of an hour in 

 binding them all. 



So we set out on our last journey, of which I will merely 

 give a short summary now that we are travelling like lords with 

 large, fresh teams. 



Our days passed in the following manner : 



August 29th : Wake up half -past ten in the morning. 

 Cook food. Capture the dogs. Start across the inland-ice 

 3 p.m. 



August 30th : A sudden storm and thick snow overwhelm 

 us at midnight. Remain for a few hours in the shelter of the 

 sledges and continue when it clears up. 



August 30th : At 2 p.m. the Etah district is reached in a 

 storm from the north. The sledges are left by the edge of the 

 glacier, and after a very strenuous walk across mountains, camp 

 is reached at 9 p.m. 



In the course of the night and the day of the 31st of August 

 the relief sledges are fitted out, and at last on the 1st of Sep- 

 tember they leave. 



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