BARTLETT'S FARTHEST 
like Alexander the Great, we dared not cut 
the "Gordian Knots," but we did get them 
untangled. 
About five o'clock in the afternoon, the 
temperature had fallen to 43° below zero, and 
at the same time the ice began to move again. 
Owing to the attraction of the moon, the 
mighty flanks of the earth were being drawn 
by her invisible force, and were commencing 
again to crack and be rent asunder. 
We loaded up hurriedly and all three par- 
ties left the camp and crossed over the place 
where recently had been the open lead, and 
beyond for more than five miles, until we 
reached the heavier and solid ice of the large 
floes. Northward our way led, and we kept 
on in that direction accordingly, at times 
crossing j^oung ice so thin that the motion of 
the sledges would cause the ice to undulate. 
Over old floes of the blue, hummocky kind, on 
which the snow had fallen and become packed 
solid, the rest of this day's journey was 
completed. We staggered into camp Hke 
drunken men, and built our igloos by force of 
habit rather than with the intelhgence of hu- 
man beings. 
123 
