ESCAPE FROM THE ICE 
of water to the west ; it appeared to offer us release from the grip 
of the pack. At the head of an ice-tongue that nearly closed 
the gap through which we might enter the open space was a 
wave-worn berg shaped like some curious antediluvian monster, 
an icy Cerberus guarding the way. It had head and eyes 
and rolled so heavily that it almost overturned. Its sides 
dipped deep in the sea, and as it rose again the water seemed 
to be streaming from its eyes, as though it were weeping at 
our escape from the clutch of the floes. This may seem fanciful 
to the reader, but the impression was real to us at the time. 
People living under civilized conditions, surrounded by Nature's 
varied forms of life and by all the familiar work of their own 
hands, may scarcely realize how quickly the mind, influenced 
by the eyes, responds to the unusual and weaves about it curious 
imaginings like the firelight fancies of our childhood days. We 
had lived long amid the ice, and we half-unconsciously strove 
to see resemblances to human faces and living forms in the 
fantastic contours and massively uncouth vshapes of berg 
and floe. 
At dusk we made fast to a heavy floe, each boat haviug 
its painter fastened to a separate hummock in order to avoid 
collisions in the sM^ell. We landed the blubber-stove, boiled 
some water in order to provide hot milk, and served cold 
rations. I also landed the dome tents and stripped the cover- 
ings from the hoops. Our experience of the previous day in the 
open sea had shown us that the tents must be packed tightly. 
The spray had dashed over the bows and turned to ice on the 
cloth, which had soon grown dangerously heavy. Other articles 
of our scanty equipment had to go that night. We were carrying 
only the things that had seemed essential, but we stripped 
now to the barest limit of safety. We had hoped for a quiet 
night, but presently we were forced to cast off, since pieces of 
loose ice began to work round the floe. Drift-ice is always 
attracted to the lee side of a heavy floe, where it bumps and 
presses under the influence of the current. I had determined 
not to risk a repetition of the last night's experience and so 
had not pulled the boats up. We spent the hours of darkness 
keepmg an offing from the main line of pack under the lee of 
I 129 
