SECOND RESCUE ATTEMPT. 



487 



of the passage leading to the main igloo, and making a turn so 

 that I could look ahead, my dilemma was far from enviable, for 

 there the dogs were, beyond a possibility of my reaching them, 

 the dome of the igloo having stooped, as it were, to kiss its foun- 

 dation. By using dog-persuasive talk, I at length induced one of 

 them to come out of the wolf-like den and approach me. Here 

 it played " catch-me-if-you-can," coming just without my reach, 

 and dodging back into its lair. After fifteen minutes' coaxing the 

 dog was tempted to hold out its paw, but as often as I attempted 

 to meet it with mine it was tormentingly withdrawn. The paw 

 was finally fast within my hold, and quickly I had the dog in har- 

 ness, dragging him after me, and of course his companion follow- 

 ed after. When back to the vessel I was covered with perspira- 

 tion, though the thermometer was 62° below the freezing point. 



"At fifteen minutes past 10 A.M. Ebierbing and I started, with 

 little expectation of being back to-night. "We took along the 

 pair of snow-shoes of Ebierbing's (of Esquimaux style and make), 

 to be used alternately by each of us if the occasion required it, 

 and added to our traps a snow-knife, with which to make us a 

 snow-house on the way, if we needed it. 



" The team of dogs was an excellent one, tractable, strong, and 

 of great speed wherever and whenever the traveling would ad- 

 mit of it. The number was not what we could wish, being only 

 seven , but it was as great as we could have. Had my four ' Green- 

 landers' been here, their help would have been ample for almost 

 any emergency. 



" The leader of Ebierbing's team proved to be of no ordinary 

 quality. Though, for much of the way to the point where I was 

 obliged to turn back on Friday last in order to save my remain- 

 ing companion (Lamb), the tracks we had made were obliterated, 

 yet this leader, with admirable instinct, kept us in the desired 

 course. We had not proceeded far from the vessel before I found, 

 to my joy, that the traveling had greatly improved since Friday. 

 The snow, in many places, had become firmly packed — much of 

 the way sufficiently firm to hold up the dogs and the broad shoe 

 of the sledge, with both Ebierbing and me on it. 



"We had other work than traveling to do. We worked des- 

 perately to keep our faces and feet from freezing. The wind was 

 blowing a smart breeze all the way up the bay, directly from 

 ahead, at a temperature of 62° below the freezing mark. The 

 air calm, with a temperature of 100° below the freezing point of 



