ACROSS THE MOVING ICE 
191 
springlike. This would mean open water, to be 
sure, but for the rest of the day we went along well 
over old floes of heavy ice where the going was 
good and the open leads few. About noon it came 
off clear and calm, and during the afternoon we 
made good progress. In fact, when, just at dark, 
we stopped and built our igloo, we had done the 
best day’s work since we had left the island. 
For the first time, too, we built our igloo on a 
solid floe where we could sleep without the con¬ 
stant menace of a split in the ice beneath us dur¬ 
ing the night. We found a floe of fresh-water ice 
near by; up to this time we had found few of these, 
none at our stopping-places, and had had to use 
snow to make our tea. The dogs had worked well 
all day; it was a relief to go on for hour after hour 
without having to stop for open water. 
The next morning, when we were still in our 
igloo, finishing our tea, we heard the dogs outside, 
sniffing and whining excitedly; something was up. 
We always kept our rifle in the igloo when we made 
camp, with the magazine full. Now, jabbing a 
hole in the side of the igloo, we looked out; the 
dogs were moving about restlessly. Kataktovick 
seized the rifle and jumped outside, with me close 
at his heels. A bear was just making off; he had 
evidently come close and had been frightened by 
the dogs. Kataktovick ran after him and fired 
