IN AN OPEN BOAT 



about for Daniel, the man himself came lurching 

 along hugging a big stone. 



" Aksuse," he said, and dropped the stone gently 

 into the boat. The others took no notice, beyond 

 the usual " Ah," and Daniel ambled off again. For 

 fully five minutes he went on with his task of 

 collecting stones, and at last I asked him, " Are 

 these for ballast?" Daniel grinned and twinkled. 

 " Me cook," he said, and settled to his oar. " Taimak, 

 hai ? " said the captain. " Taimak," I answered from 

 my place by the rudder, and we were off. 



I really think that the first few miles out of 

 Okak were the slowest that I have ever travelled, 

 not even excepting mauja-tra veiling on a sledge 

 trip. The pace was a trifle faster than standing still, 

 and that is about the best that I can say for it. 



Happily the day was calm, or we could never 

 have moved at all. The method of getting along 

 was simple enough in a way. The oarsmen stood 

 facing the bows, so as to see what was ahead ; some- 

 times they dipped their oars in the water, but more 

 often there was not enough water within reach, and 

 they had to shove the boat along by pushing with 

 their oars on the ice. The captain stood up with his 

 pole, carefully keeping the boat from bumping the 

 ice, and separating the pans to make a passage, and 

 all the while he never ceased from muttering orders 

 to the rowers. The boat's nose was never pointing 

 in one direction for more than a minute or two ; 

 north, south, east, and west we steered, and once we 

 were in the ridiculous position of having to wriggle a 

 hundred yards back towards Okak in our search for 

 a way. Things went quietly enough as long as we 



were in the shelter of the bay, but outside we met 



194 



