224 
A VOYAGE TO SFITZBEBGEN. 
there been a hole we might have stopped it, and gone 
where we pleased; but this hurt was beyond our 
skill, and we were forced to turn back after all our 
plans were laid. We look again and again for some 
damage that may be repaired. We are far on our 
way, and it seems hard to relinquish our purpose. How 
can we dare to face the ice in such uncertainty ? We 
ask, and console ourselves by the thought that next 
season we shall come again into these seas, better 
prepared to face the difficulties that may present 
themselves; and we set to work on what we believe to 
be the weak place where the leak exists. We nail a 
sealskin, coated with tar and oakum, over the place, 
and next tide haul her once again on to the sea. The 
leak is somewhat reduced, and we have a tussle with 
the ice once more before we return out of the fiord into 
the open water. The north wind drives the ice up to 
and beyond us. While we stand waiting to see the 
effect of the thirty miles of ice which holds us back, 
we begin to drift down the fiord, following the 'field 
as it goes. At one time we are nearly driven on shore 
by a sudden shift, which threatens to force us back 
the path we have come. We, therefore, look out a 
safe anchorage, and starting from thence we wander 
sometimes for two days away from the ship in quest 
of game. On such occasions the continual daylight 
