n the two like a greased pig.

As soon as the pressure was relaxed and the ship regained an even keel,
we discovered that the cable which had been attached to the floe-berg at
the stern had become entangled with the propeller. It was a time for
lightning thought and action; but by attaching a heavier cable to the
parted one and taking a hitch round the steam capstan, we finally
disentangled it.

This excitement was no sooner over than a great berg that was passing
near us split in two of its own accord, a cube some twenty-five or
thirty feet in diameter dropping toward the ship, and missing our
quarter by only a foot or two. "Bergs to the right of them, bergs to the
left of them, bergs on top of them," I heard somebody say, as we caught
our breath at this miraculous escape.

The ship was now quite at the mercy of the drifting ice, and with the
pressure from the outer pack the _Roosevelt_ again careened to
starboard. I knew that if she were driven any higher upon the shore, we
should have to discharge a large part of the coal in order to lighten
her sufficiently to get her off again. So I decided to dynamite the ice.

I told Bartlett to get out his batteries and dynamite, and to smash the
ice between the _Roosevelt_ and the heavy floes outside, making a soft
cushion for the ship to rest on. The batteries were brought up from the
lazaret, one of the dynamite boxes lifted out with caution, and Bartlett
and I looked for the best places in the ice for the charges.

Several sticks of dynamite were wrapped in pieces of old bagging and
fastened on the end of long spruce poles, which we had brought along
specially for this purpose. A wire from the battery had, of course, been
connected with one of the primers buried in the dynamite. Pole, wire,
and dynamite were thrust down through cracks in the ice at several
places in the adjacent floes. The other end of each wire was then
connected with the battery, every one retreated to a respectful distance
on the far side of the deck, and a quick, sharp push on the plunger of
the battery sent the electric current along the wires.

_Rip! Bang! Boom!_ The ship quivered like a smitten violin string, and a
column of water and pieces of ice went flying a hundred feet into the
air, geyser fashion.

The pressure of the ice against the ship being thus removed, she righted
herself and lay quietly on her cushion of crushed ice--waiting for
whatever might happen next. As the tide lowered, the