ver been my lot to see. Though with
the rising of the sun the frost came out of the dogs' legs to some
extent, and the friction of waving it made the odd pole almost tie
itself in knots, I could raise it three or four feet above my head,
which was very important.

Once or twice I thought that I could distinguish men against the
distant cliffs--for I had drifted out of the bay into the sea--but the
objects turned out to be trees. Once also I thought that I saw a boat
appearing and disappearing on the surface of the water, but it proved
to be only a small piece of ice bobbing up and down. The rocking of my
cradle on the waves had helped me to sleep, and I felt as well as I
ever did in my life. I was confident that I could last another
twenty-four hours if my boat would only hold out and not rot under the
sun's rays. I could not help laughing at my position, standing hour
after hour waving my shirt at those barren and lonely cliffs; but I
can honestly say that from first to last not a single sensation of
fear crossed my mind.

My own faith in the mystery of immortality is so untroubled that it
now seemed almost natural to be passing to the portal of death from an
ice-pan. Quite unbidden, the words of the old hymn kept running
through my head:

"My God, my Father, while I stray
Far from my home on life's rough way,
Oh, help me from my heart to say,
Thy will be done."

I had laid my wooden matches out to dry and was searching about on the
pan for a piece of transparent ice which I could use as a
burning-glass. I thought that I could make smoke enough to be seen
from the land if only I could get some sort of a light. All at once I
seemed to see the glitter of an oar, but I gave up the idea because I
remembered that it was not water which lay between me and the land,
but slob ice, and even if people had seen me, I did not imagine that
they could force a boat through. The next time that I went back to my
flag-waving, however, the glitter was very distinct, but my
snow-glasses having been lost, I was partially snow-blind and
distrusted my vision. But at last, besides the glide of an oar I made
out the black streak of a boat's hull, and knew that if the pan held
out for another hour I should be all right. The boat drew nearer and
nearer, and I could make out my rescuers frantically waving. When they
got close by they shouted, "Don't get excited. Keep on the pan where
you are." They were far more excited t