360 
IN THE WATER. 
enough to see their expressive faces—were looking at 
us with that strange curiosity which seems to be their 
characteristic expression: we must have passed some 
fifty of them, breast-high out of water, mocking us by 
their self-complacency. 
This desperate race against fate could not last: 
the rolling of the tough salt-water ice terrified our 
dogs; and when within fifty paces from the floe 
they paused. The left-hand runner went through: 
our leader “ Toodlamick” followed, and in one second 
the entire left of the sledge was submerged. My 
first thought was to liberate the dogs. I leaned for¬ 
ward to cut poor Tood’s traces, and the next minute 
was swimming in a little circle of pasty ice and water 
alongside him. Hans, dear good fellow, drew near to 
help me, uttering piteous expressions in broken Eng¬ 
lish ; but I ordered him to throw himself on his belly, 
with his hands and legs extended, and to make for 
the island by cogging himself forward with his jack¬ 
knife. In the mean time — a mere instant—I was 
floundering about with sledge, dogs, and lines, in con¬ 
fused puddle around me. 
I succeeded in cutting poor Tood’s lines and letting 
him scramble to the ice, for the poor fellow was drown¬ 
ing me with his piteous caresses, and made my way for 
the sledge; but I found that it would not buoy me, and 
that I had no resource but to try the circumference of 
the hole. Around this I paddled faithfully, the miser¬ 
able ice always yielding when my hopes of a lodge¬ 
ment were greatest. During this process I enlarged 
