now LONG WE HAVE TO SLEEP. 373 
that region of rugged rocks and seven or eight knot 
currents. It will be seen how providential this apparently- 
natural decision proved before the lapse of twenty-four 
hours. 
After struggling against the current nntil sunset, 
(9 p.M.,) it fortunately slackened up, and we were enabled 
to gain shelter in the bight above the point abreast of 
which we had been doing our best all day, after which 
we piped down the hammocks and felt unusually com- 
fortable with the prospect of a quiet night’s rest ahead. 
* 5 |< * * * * 
It was about three hours after midnight, and yet the 
arctic sun was already some degrees above the eastern 
horizon, while the ‘‘old John,” as if ashamed of having 
overslept herself, was running under a full head of steam 
from the spot where, only six short hours previously, we 
had anchored for the night after one of our usual “ day’s 
work” of eighteen hours. 
Don’t smile, reader; we often worked more than 
eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, during those long 
arctic days. 
I would not have any one understand, from the fact 
that the “old John” was under a full head of steam, that 
she was rivalling a North River steamer or even a fair 
sailing-scow in speed, — such, indeed, being far from the 
case, as six and a half knots the hour was the most that 
she could be prevailed upon to accomplish under steam 
only. The Government agents, in sending us to sea in 
her, doubtless thought that she was “just the vessel for 
the service;” but we, the interested parties, after some 
months’ experience, became impressed with the unplea- 
