CHAPTER VII 
DRIVEN BY THE STORM 
All day long on both September 21 and 22, it 
was dull and cloudy and the barometer was fall¬ 
ing steadily, so I was not surprised at daylight 
September 23 to find the wind blowing from the 
east forty miles an hour. McKinlay’s anemom¬ 
eter was seeing active service at once. I noticed 
that the Eskimo seemed very uneasy and made 
frequent visits to the dredge-hole, where we were 
in the habit of using the hand lead-line to detect 
movements of the ice; whenever the ice moved we 
could feel the lead coming with us. After break¬ 
fast I began to visit the dredge-hole myself 
more often than usual. At quarter of ten I was 
there and felt no drift but at ten, while I had the 
line in my hand, the lead started to go. Kerdrillo 
and Kataktovick were near me; handing them the 
line I asked them what they thought; they instantly 
replied that we were moving. Immediately I had 
everything that we had placed on the ice taken 
aboard again, including the sledge and the canoe 
which we had used in our duck-shooting, for it 
seemed likely that the ice would eventually break 
39 
