5H FARTHES2' NORTH 



was to Q[et so far, but not be able to ^ret in. After a 

 little, however, I managed to swing one leg up on to the 

 edge of the sledge which lay on the deck, and in this way 

 managed to tumble up. There I sat, but so stiff with 

 cold that I had difficulty in paddling. Nor was it easy 

 to paddle in the double vessel, where I first had to take 

 one or two strokes on one side, and then step into the 

 otiier kayak to take a few strokes on the other side. If I 

 had been able to separate them, and row in one while I 

 towed the other, it would have been easv enough ; but I 

 could not undertake that piece of work, for I should have 

 been stiff before it was done ; the thing to be done was to 

 keep warm by rowing as hard as I could. The cold had 

 robbed my whole body of feeling, but when the gusts of 

 wind came they seemed to go right through me as I 

 stood there in my thin, wet woollen shirt. I shivered, my 

 teeth chattered, and I was numb almost all over; but I 

 could still use the paddle, and I should get warm when I 

 got back on to the ice again. Two auks were lying close 

 to the bow, and the thought of having auk for supper 

 was too tempting ; we were in want of food now. I 

 got hold of my gun and shot them with one discharge. 

 Johansen said afterwards that he started at the report, 

 thinking some accident had happened, and could not un- 

 derstand what I was about out there, but when he saw 

 me paddle and pick up two birds he thought I had gone 

 out of my mind. At last I managed to reach the edge 

 of the ice, but the current had driven me a long way 



