SAFELY LANDED. 
361 
my circle of operations to a very uncomfortable dia¬ 
meter, and was beginning to feel weaker after every 
effort. Hans meanwhile had reached the firm ice, and 
was on his knees, like a good Moravian, praying inco¬ 
herently in English and Esquimaux; at every fresh 
crushing-in of the ice he would ejaculate “ God!” and 
when I recommenced my paddling he recommenced 
his prayers. 
I was nearly gone. My knife had been lost in 
cutting out the dogs; and a spare one which I earned 
in my trousers-pocket was so enveloped in the wet 
skins that I could not reach it. I owed my extrication 
at last to a newly-broken team-dog, who was still fast 
to the sledge and in struggling carried one of the run¬ 
ners chock against the edge of the circle. All my pre¬ 
vious attempts to use the sledge as a bridge had failed, 
for it broke through, to the much greater injury of the 
ice. I felt that it was a last chance. I threw myself 
on my back, so as to lessen as much as possible my 
weight, and placed the nape of my neck against the 
rim or edge of the ice; then with caution slowly bent 
my leg, and, placing the ball of my moccasined foot 
against the sledge, I pressed steadily against the run¬ 
ner, listening to the half-yielding crunch of the ice 
beneath. 
Presently I felt that my head was pillowed by the 
ice, and that my wet fur jumper was sliding up the 
surface. Next came my shoulders; they were fairly on. 
One more decided push, and I was launched up on the 
ice and safe. I reached the ice-floe, and was frietioned 
