120 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



when her captain succeeded in grounding her on 

 one of the few bits of sand for miles. Her screw 

 and rudder were practically 'out of water when she 

 took the bottom, with her bows in 27 feet. The 

 doctor aboard had spent three days on shore near, 

 and had operated on one cancer of the lip and on an 

 old compound dislocation of the wrist in a young 

 girl. These came to us to have the stitches re- 

 moved. 



While returning from visiting a patient at Greenly 

 Island in thick fog, we were unfortunate enough to 

 run the Princess May ashore. It was as dark as 

 pitch at the time, and we had burnt all our flares 

 out while threading our way through a quantity of 

 ^chooners at anchor. Two men on the bows of the 

 boat, after a long pause to search for some guid- 

 ance, had just given the word "all right ahead," 

 when we ran up on 'a flat- topped rock, and found 

 that high, almost perpendicular, cliffs were only a 

 few yards ahead. Throwing out our dingey, and 

 removing all superfluous weight from the bows, we 

 succeeded shortly in getting off; and guided by the 

 stentorian shouts of some men from a schooner, 

 alternating with their fog-horn, we found our way 

 alongside and made fast to her. As we were too 

 many even to lie down on the launch I went aboard 

 the schooner, the hospitable skipper of which in- 

 sisted on my turning into his bunk. He was only- 

 just back, apparently, with a load of fish from his 

 traps, and hearing the echo of our voices from the 





