SCHAROK AGAIN 263 
I made a little geological excursion after that, hunting 
up a river for sections and fossils, but that was all I.could 
do, The wind had goné to the east; it was drizzling and 
blowing half a gale, and at high tide the ice for the ‘first 
time came right in at the harbour mouth till it grounded 
all about on the mud, the biggest bits floating up the 
channel under the tent. 
Sunday, July 29th.—Any one would have thought 
that we might have rested content with having once 
taken out a half-rotten boat and come back in safety. 
But we were hungry men. There was only one wretched 
long-tailed duck in the larder; we wanted geese, and 
geese we saw on the sand-banks away out on the ice. 
‘What a pity we can’t get one of those old geese!’ I 
said to Hyland. Esculapius could not have done it 
more quickly! He had been ill and unable to move 
beyond a crawl till then. 
‘We can get one, can’t we, sir? I can pull the boat out.’ 
I knew very well he couldn't, with his bad back, but 
the tide was running out, so it was only a question of 
keeping the boat straight. I thought I could steer her 
through the ice. 
’ Well, we started. » The ice did not look very pleasant 
at times; it could easily have knocked a. hole in our 
ancient craft. Some of it was in very pretty, light-topped 
pieces ten. feet or so above the water, with hollows and 
green caves in'them, and-gulls sitting on the spires. 
