A HARD STRUGGLE 2^1 



we were under land ! Perhaps, if the worst should come 

 to the worst, we may be reduced to waiting" till over the 

 time when the mild weather and break-up of the ice come 

 in earnest. But have we provisions enough to wait till that 

 time ? This was, indeed, more than doubtful, ... As 

 I stood sunk in these gloomy reflections on the high 

 hummock, and looking southward over the ice, seeinor 

 ridge after ridge and lane after lane before me, I sud- 

 denly heard the well-known sound of a whale blowing 

 from a lead close behind. It was the solution of my 

 troubles. Starve we should not ; there are animals here, 

 and we have guns, thank Heaven, and harpoons as well, 

 and we know how to use them. There was a whole 

 school of narwhals in the lane breathino- and blowino- 

 ceaselessly. As some high ice hid them from view for a 

 great part, I could only see their gray backs, now and 

 then, as they arched themselves over the black surface 

 of the water. I stood a long while looking at them, and 

 had I had my gun and harpoon, it would have been an 

 easy matter to get one. After all, the prospect was not 

 so bad at present; and meanwhile what we had to do 

 was not to mind lanes, but to keep on our course 

 S.W. or S.W. to S. over them, and push on the best 

 we could. And with that resolution I returned to the 

 sledges. Neither of us, however, had a very firm belief 

 that we should get much farther, and therefore all the 

 more elated did we become as our advance proved by de- 

 grees to be tolerably easy, in spite of our exhausted dogs. 



