FROST AGAIN. 
31 
“ In the morning—that is to say, when the combined 
light of the noonday dawn and the circumpolar moon 
permitted our escape—I found, by comparing the time 
as indicated by the Great Bear with the present in¬ 
creased altitude of the moon, that we had been pent 
up nearly two days. Under these circumstances we 
made directly for the hummocks, en route for the bay. 
But here was a disastrous change. The snow had 
accumulated under the windward sides of the inclined 
tables to a height so excessive that we buried sledge, 
dogs, and drivers, in the effort to work through. It 
was all in vain that Ilans and I harnessed ourselves 
to, or lifted, levered, twisted, and pulled. Utterly ex¬ 
hausted and sick, I was obliged to give it up. The 
darkness closed in again, and with difficulty we regained 
the igloe. 
“ The ensuing night brought a return to hard freez¬ 
ing temperatures. Our luxurious and downy coverlet 
was a stiff, clotted lump of ice. In spite of our double 
lamp, it was a miserable halt. Our provisions grew 
short; the snow kept on falling, and we had still forty- 
six miles between us and the Esquimaux. 
“ I determined to try the land-ice (ice-foot) by Fog 
Inlet; and we worked four hours upon this without a 
breathing-spell,—utterly in vain. My poor Esquimaux, 
Hans, adventurous and buoyant as he was, began to 
cry like a child. Sick, worn out, strength gone, dogs 
fast and floundering, I am not ashamed to admit that, 
as I thought of the sick men on board, my own equa¬ 
nimity also was at fault. 
