IN SIGHT OF LAND 
201 
once because, although the crack did not come in¬ 
side, it was so near that the walls split on the south 
end. Shortly after we got out the ice began to 
move about and we had to work fast to save the 
dogs. Some of them had been tethered and others 
loose; now we let them all loose to give each a better 
opportunity if the ice broke up any more, taking 
our chances on getting them together again in the 
morning. We removed everything from the igloo 
and loaded up the sledge, lashing everything tight. 
The night was fine and clear, with brilliant star¬ 
light and no wind whatever, all of which was in 
our favor, though it was still so dark that we could 
not see our way around. 
We stayed up the rest of the night and at dawn 
had some meat and pemmican and drank some tea. 
As soon as it was light enough we got away, hop¬ 
ing that by night we should be on land. The ice 
was in motion everywhere, however, and there were 
open leads on every hand. We had light enough 
to see what we had to do but there was a great deal 
of condensation and we could not see very far. 
The ice was grinding and groaning, and splitting 
in all directions about us as we travelled and the 
noise made the dogs so uneasy that at times they 
were practically useless. Finally, about three 
o’clock in the afternoon, the light was so bad and 
the ice was moving so constantly that we could not 
