SUNSHINE AND STORM II7 



impossible to return, tlie cliff being too steep and slippery. 

 Here Astrup dropped a snow-shoe — Ikwa's snow-slide — 

 which he had been using to punch steps in the snow and to 

 scrape places among the icy stones for a foothold. This left 

 them only the one which the doctor was using. Further pro- 

 gress was very slow ; they knew that their steps had to be 

 firm, for one misstep would send them to their doom. To add 

 to their difficulty it began to grow dark, about four r. M., when 

 they were not more than half-way up; poor Jack was unable 

 to follow them any longer up the steep, icy wall, and, likewise 

 unable to go down, he began to howl and cry piteously at 

 being left. The howl of a dog under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances is horrible. To the boys it sounded like their 

 death-knell. They heard the old people pass along the bay, 

 and called to them. Finally they reached the top, and thea 

 ran along to Mile Valley above the house and came down it to 

 the bay, in this way missing Mr. Peary. 



Sunday, February 21. Yesterday we made an unsuccessful 

 effort to rescue Jack, and this morning the attempt was resumed 

 by Mr. Peary and Dr. Cook. I was to meet them at noon with 

 lunch. About ten o'clock the boys reported a wind-storm 

 down at Cape Cleveland ; the snow was driving off the cliffs 

 in thick clouds, and the whole sky became black. The storm, 

 however, did not strike Redcliffe, but passed to the east, and 

 we could see it at work at the head of the bay. Believing it 

 to be over at the Cape, I started on snow-shoes, with shotgun^ 

 on my shoulder, and with a gripsack containing tea, boiler^ 



