CHAPTER XV 



THE FIRST FIFTY MILES 



BEFORE Wilkins went ashore his sled had of course been 

 unloaded and the contents dumped on the ice. With one sled 

 less, it was impossible to take along the same amount of 

 stuff. The first task was to go through our possessions and discard 

 what could most easily be discarded. We threw away some food 

 and some spare clothing, and planted a flag on a high ice hummock, 

 thinking this cake might drift inshore and be discovered by some 

 Eskimo seal hunters or even by Wilkins and Castel. We knew that 

 they would make some attempt to rejoin us, but felt that it was sure 

 to be futile, for not only was there an expanse of impassable water 

 between us and land, but there was no means by which they could 

 tell how far east or to seaward we had drifted. 



The second day after the gale we were able to commence travel- 

 ing. The ice was under no pressure now, for the storm had blown 

 it offshore and had drifted our island against the edge of the pack 

 where it had stuck fast. The temperature, to our great distress, 

 continued warm — never below zero, Fahrenheit, Still, as there was 

 no pressure, the mush solidified enough in two nights to permit 

 crossing in several places, although we were able to make only three 

 miles the first traveling day. In some cases where the cracks be- 

 tween floes were no more than three to five yards wide, we used to 

 bridge them by chopping ice for an hour or two with our pickaxes 

 and throwing the fragments into the water until their combined 

 buoyancy was enough to support the sled during the crossing. And 

 the farther from shore we got, the fewer the cracks we had to cross. 



A lead of open water appeared in front of us on April 4th. We 

 could have crossed it by using the sled boat, but because in half a 

 dozen such crossings the mush ice would have chafed holes in the 

 canvas we did not do so. Furthermore, the pack was in motion and 

 we expected the lead to close at any time, giving an easy cross- 

 ing. So we did no traveling that day. 



To encourage the men, and to demonstrate to them how easy it 

 Was to make a living at sea, I shot a number of seals and so did 



153 



