28G 
OPEN WATER. 
proceed, trembling violently. The only way to in¬ 
duce the terrified, obstinate brutes to get on was fox 
Hans to go to a white-looking spot where the ice was 
thicker, the soft stuff looking dark; then, calling the 
dogs coaxingly by name, they would crawl to him on 
their bellies. So they retreated from place to place, 
until they reached the firm ice they had quitted. A 
half-mile brought them to comparatively safe ice, a 
mile more to good ice again. 
In the midst of this danger they had during the lift¬ 
ings of the fog sighted open water, and they now saw 
it plainly. There was no wind stirring, and its face 
was perfectly smooth. It was two miles farther up the 
channel than the firm ice to which they had retreated. 
Hans could hardly believe it. But for the birds that 
were seen in great numbers, Morton says he would not 
have believed it himself. 
The ice covered the mouth of the channel like a 
horseshoe. One end lapped into the west side a con¬ 
siderable distance up the channel, the other covered 
the cape for about a mile and a half, so that they 
could not land opposite their camp, which was about a 
mile and a half from the cape. 
That night they succeeded in climbing on to the 
level by the floe-pieces, and walked around the turn of 
the cape for some distance, leaving their dogs behind. 
They found a good ice-foot, very wide, which extended 
as far as the cape. They saw a good many birds on 
s the water, both eider-ducks and dovekies, and the rocks 
on shore were full of sea-swallows. There was no ice. 
