200 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLIJK 
in finding the young ice firm enough to bear us so 
that we did not lose much time in getting across 
the leads to the big floes where it was smoother and 
more level. About three o’clock in the afternoon 
we came to a belt of raftered ice and deep, soft 
snow, where we had to use the pickaxe. After 
two hours’ work we got through and had good 
going the remainder of the day. 
We got away from our igloo at six o’clock the 
next morning and found that the going continued 
good for a while. After a time we came to an¬ 
other patch of rough, heavy ice, with open leads, 
which we had to cross. Then we came to a long 
strip of firm, young ice and had good travelling, 
later reaching older floes and raftered ice; we man¬ 
aged to make our way round the ends of the raft¬ 
ers and did not have to use the pickaxe at all. 
This was a great relief for we wasted no time in 
making a road. The dogs, however, were pretty 
nearly worn out and could only be made to work 
by constant urging; in fact, during the day two of 
them gave out completely. 
We made camp at half past seven. The land 
was not over fifteen or eighteen miles away, so we 
knew that we had done a good day’s work. 
At about one o’clock the next morning, while we 
were asleep, the ice split near the igloo and opened 
about two feet. We had to get out of the igloo at 
