gs and tangled floe-pieces. My sturdy
second officer, not naturally impressible, and long accustomed to the
vicissitudes of whaling life, shed tears at the prospect.

There was but one thing to be done: cost what it might, we must harness
our sledges again and retrace our way to the westward. One sledge
had been already used for firewood; the "Red Eric," to which it had
belonged, was now cut up, and her light cedar planking laid upon the
floor of the other boats, and we went to work with the rue-raddies as in
the olden time. It was not till the third toilsome day was well spent
that we reached the berg that had bewildered our helmsman. We hauled
over its tongue and joyously embarked again upon a free lead, with a
fine breeze from the north.

Our little squadron was now reduced to two boats. The land to the
northward was no longer visible, and whenever I left the margin of the
fast to avoid its deep sinuosities, I was obliged to trust entirely to
the compass. We had at least eight days' allowance of fuel on board; but
our provisions were running very low, and we met few birds, and failed
to secure any larger game. We saw several large seals upon the ice, but
they were too watchful for us; and on two occasions we came upon the
walrus sleeping, once within actual lance-thrust; but the animal charged
in the teeth of his assailant and made good his retreat.

[Illustration: WINTER IN THE FAR NORTH ]

On the 28th I instituted a quiet review of the state of things before
us. Our draft on the stores we had laid in at Providence Halt had been
limited for some days to three raw eggs and two breasts of birds a day,
but we had a small ration of bread-dust besides; and when we halted, as
we did regularly for meals, our fuel allowed us to indulge lavishly
in the great panacea of Arctic travel, tea. The men's strength was
waning under this restricted diet, but a careful reckoning up of our
remaining supplies proved to me now that even this was more than we
could afford ourselves without an undue reliance on the fortunes of the
hunt. Our next land was to be Cape Shackleton, one of the most prolific
bird-colonies of the coast, which we were all looking to, much as
sailors nearing home in their boats after disaster and short allowance
at sea. But, meting out our stores through the number of days that must
elapse before we could expect to share its hospitable welcome, I found
that five ounces of bread-dust, four of tallow, and three of