194 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



wood, for it had long ago completely worn out, and it was 

 impracticable, therefore, to disengage it, and of course 

 equally impossible to reverse the engine, even if we 

 wanted to. 



We had been in a state of tense anxiety for two days 

 when at last hope broke through the gloom. A clean speck 

 of sky showed in the southwest and it grew larger late 

 in the afternoon of the second day of storm and promised 

 that the wind would shift within a half day and blow from 

 that quarter. It cleared also, considerably towards the 

 southwest, and at least so far as we could see in that 

 direction no rocks were visible. 



Reflecting the cheerfulness which came with this good 

 sign Ed Born gave us a can of raspberries from his private 

 stock. We had not for a long while enjoyed such a 

 tidbit because the sailors in the forecastle had system- 

 atically rifled the ship's stores and eaten all the best of 

 the tinned goods before this time. 



As soon as the wind changed, which was about mid- 

 night, the "Abler" was put on the starboard tack and 

 ran like a hunted thing out to sea for twelve hours. 

 When the morning broke clear and sunny no land was in 

 sight. An observation at noon showed that we were 

 some sixty miles off Afognak and that we had, dm^ing 

 the storm, passed and repassed close to the fatal rocks. 

 How we missed some of them never was explained, and 

 neither the captain nor the mate made any attempt to 

 trace on the chart the actual course we had taken during 

 the two days of storm. It is probable, however, that the 

 strong tide setting out of Cook's Inlet had carried us to 

 windward at the hours when its help was most needful. 



By noon, then, we were headed directly for Seward. 

 The wind blew fair all day and all night, and at dawn the 



