it went to my heart to see inflicted, but to reach land
was a question of life or death. Sometimes the coast would loom ahead
through the blinding snow, but we had to steer by the compass, which,
for some occult reason, was that day useless, for it pointed east and
led us due north towards the sea. At last, after a journey from the
opposite coast of ten hours, with faces, feet and hands badly frozen, we
reached land exhausted, and, for the time being, safe. Some drift-wood
and the shelter of a friendly cave were handy, or that night some of us
must inevitably have perished. But after a painful struggle up a steep
cliff, waist-deep in snow, and a crawl into the cheerless refuge, the
cry was raised, "A sled is lost!" and there was nothing for it but to
face the _poorga_ again in search of the missing _narta_ and its driver,
one of the Kolyma men. For perhaps an hour every man floundered about
the hummocks and crevasses of the bay with a dogged perseverance born of
the knowledge that at this time of the year large floes are often
detached from the main pack and blown out to sea. But at last even
Stepan's pluck and endurance were exhausted (to say nothing of my own),
and I blew the whistle for a general retreat to our cavern, only to find
the missing sled triced up with the others and its occupant snugly
reposing inside the rock. And right glad we were to find not only the
man in charge of it but also the missing sled, which had contained the
last remnants of our provisions!

That night, after the evening meal, every mouthful of food we had left
was two pounds of _Carnyl_ and fourteen frozen fish, and this must
suffice for nine men and sixty ravenous dogs! Hitherto we had joked
about cannibalism. Harding, we had said, as being the stoutest member of
the party, was to be sacrificed, and Stepan was to be the executioner.
But to-night this well-worn joke fell flat. For we had reached the
eastern shores of Tchaun Bay, and this was where we should have found a
Tchuktchi village. When the sun rose next morning, however, not a sign
of human life was visible. Even Stepan's features assumed a look of
blank despair, but the plucky Cossack aroused our miserable drivers as
usual with his cruel _nagaika_[52] and compelled them to make a start,
although the poor wretches would willingly have resigned themselves to a
death which undoubtedly overtook them a few days later.

[Footnote 52: Cossack whip.]

We had lost three dogs during the