470 
THE OPENING. 
ment, all tlie heavy heaving and warping of to-day 
had been without any effect. Now the floes separated 
as if by magic: there was relaxation every where; and 
we made at least two hundred yards before the ice 
closed again. 
" This afternoon, the captain, with Murdaugh and 
myself, walked and climbed over this same ice, to 
make a reconnoissance of the region beyond the bergs. 
By the aid of boat-hooks and some slippery jumping 
we achieved it, and were at last able to climb one of 
the imprisoning bergs, and look from its crest to the 
other side. 
" It was a sermon such as uninspired man has never 
preached. There, there, far down below us, there was 
the open water, stretching wide away to the south ; 
placid and bright, bearing on its glazed surface fleets 
of bergs and rafts of floes, but open water still ; and 
yet further on, the unbroken water-sky. Our little 
brig was under us, the tiny fretwork of her spars traced 
clean and sharp against the arena of ice ; but, thank 
God ! she is nearing the gates of her prison-house. De 
Haven was right. One quarter of a mile ! Now, lads, 
for the warps again ! 
" Midnight. We are out : at ten minutes past eleven 
we shipped our rudder, the first time in three weeks ; 
and made sail, the first time since the 26th of July. 
"We owe it all to a relaxation of the floes. The 
wind was from the northward : the bergs that hemmed 
in the loose drift around us yielded a little toward the 
west, and the skreed began to separate. The main- 
brace was spliced ; springs took the place of warps ; 
and the men went gallantly to their work. They 
were as anxious to get out as any of us. 
"At last we reached an opening : two immense 
