A HARD STRUGGLE 221 



next, when I had brought the sledges up, there was only 

 open water. Meanwhile we executed some intricate 

 manoeuvring from floe to floe, always farther east, in 

 order to get round. The ice jammed under and around 

 us, and it was often a difificult matter to Q:et throuo-h. 

 Often did we think we were well across, when still worse 

 lanes and cracks in front of us met our disappointed 

 gaze. It was enough sometimes to make one despair. 



"There seemed to be no end to it; wherever one 

 turned were yawning channels. On the overcast sky 

 the dark, threatening reflection of water was to be seen 

 in all directions. It really seemed as if the ice was 

 entirely broken up. Hungry and almost tired to death 

 we were, but determined, if possible, to have our troubles 

 behind us before we stopped for dinner. But at last 

 matters came to a hopeless pitch, and at i o'clock, after 

 nine hours' work, we decided to have a meal. It is a 

 remarkable fact that, let things be as bad as they may, 

 once in the bag,- and with food in prospect, all one's 

 troubles sink into oblivion. The human being becomes 

 a happy animal, which eats as long as it can keep its eyes 

 open, and goes to sleep with the food in its mouth. Oh, 

 blissful state of heedlessness ! But at 4 o'clock we had to 

 turn to again at the apparently hopeless task of threading 

 the maze of lanes. As a last drop in our cup of misery 

 the weather became so thick and shadowless that one 

 literally could not see if one were walking up against a 

 wall of ice or plunging into a pit. Alas, we have only 



