BY SLEDGE AND KAYAK 239 



should still be in the drift-ice without seeing land ; but 

 Fate wills otherwise, and she knows no mercv. 



" The lane which stopped us yesterday did not close, 

 but opened wider until there was a big sea to the west of 

 us, and we were living on a floe in the midst of it with- 

 out a passage across anywhere. So, at last, what we 

 have so often been threatened with has come to pass: 

 we must set to work and make our kayaks seaworthy. 

 But first of all we moved the tent into a sheltered nook 

 of the hummock, where we are lying to, so that the wind 

 does not reach us, and we can imagine it is quite still 

 outside, instead of a regular ' mill-breeze ' blowing from 

 the southwest. To rip off the cover of my kayak and 

 get it into the tent to patch it was the work of a very 

 short time, and then we spent a comfortable, quiet Whit- 

 sunday evening in the tent. The cooker was soon going, 

 and we had some smoking-hot lobscouse for dinner, and 

 I hardly think either of us regretted he was not on the 

 move ; it is undeniably good to make a halt sometimes. 

 The cover was soon patched and ready ; then I had to 

 go out and brace up the frame of my kayak where 

 most of the lashings are slack and must be lashed over 

 again ; this will be no inconsiderable piece of work ; 

 there are at least forty of them. However, only a couple 

 of the ribs are split, so the framework can easily be made 

 just as good as before. Johansen also took the cover off 

 his kayak, and to-day it is going to be patched. 



" When both the frames are put in order and the 



