Part 20 (1/2)

No boat could coh the sort of sea that was now running The great pans of ice, rising and falling on the waves, were crashi+ng and charging into the cliffs alongshore ”like ainst the rocks with a sullen roar as of artillery It would be necessary to skin sos and use their pelts for blankets, in order to escape freezing in the terrible cold of the oncoine how hard it was for their master to choose which should be slain!

He had the sealskin traces wound about his waist, to keep the hungry anis Then he threw the animal on his back, put his foot on his neck, and stabbed hi creature bit his , but Grenfell kept the knife in the dog till the poor beast lay still, that the blood ht not spurt out and freeze on the skin

Two more animals were put to death in the saain in the death throes So violent was the battle that the Doctor fully expected the pan to break up as they fought, and let thee indifference that ”huskies” generally show to the fate of their fellows, the other dogs were licking their coats and trying to dry themselves The Doctor had done his best to stifle the cries of the slain animals, for these would have roused the, and upon one another as well, and a general fight at such close quarters would have been disastrous

He found hi whether, when they came to the open sea, it would not be better to use his knife on hi water

When the dogs were skinned, and the harness had been used to lash the skins together, it was nearly dark, and they were fully ten ht, twinkling froht of the fisher down to their tea: and he knew they would not think of hier, for he had told them he would not be back for three days And all the ”liveyeres” think of Grenfell as aabout, that he is far ive help than to ask it of them

He had unraveled a small piece of rope, and soaked this in fat froht make a torch of it But his match-box, which he wore on a chain, had leaked Fishermen will tell you how hard it is to find a match-box that will not let in water: I prize one I have carried a great many years, which seems to be waterproof I wish Grenfell had had it then The matches were a pulp

Nevertheless Grenfell kept the Every now and then, by a sort of ht and wave his hands toward the land, in the forlorn hope of being seen through a powerful glass

There was nothing but his hands to wave He dared not let his shi+rt fly as a flag: it would not do to take it off too long at any ti cold

Nor would it be safe to pile up snow froive way if it were thinned out anywhere So he placed the dog-skins in a pile, sat on the theainst his body The exercise at least postponed the co of the last hour of all

The h so easily that it was impossible for him to dry his feet Then he reht over to care for the reindeer which Grenfell was striving to introduce at St Anthony in place of the dogs The Lapps have a way of tying grass in pads about their feet On the harness of the dogs there was flannel, to ainst the flanks The Doctor cut off the flannel, raveled out the rest of the rope, stuffed his shoes with the frags like puttees If the situation were not so serious, he ht wind, for the Oxford University running trunks and the Richarments he had worn twenty years before and had recently found in a box of old clothes

What was left over of the rope was stuffed inside the flannel shi+rt and the trunks, which with the stockings and sweater vest made up the Doctor's co, lie down, so that he ht curl up beside him and use him as a kind of fireless stove He wrapped the three skins round his body, and--strange to say--fell asleep One hand kept warainst ”Doc's”

hide, but the other froze,--since the Doctor had lost his gloves Even so, Edward Why out on the volcano Cotopaxi in Ecuador found his tent too hot on the side next the volcano and too cold on the other side

Grenfell awoke, his teeth chattering and his body shi+vering He thought for an instant he was looking at the sunrise, but it was the uessed it ht

”Doc” didn't at all relish having his slurowled his remonstrance, deep down in his throat, till he discovered that it was his ainst his cushi+oned ribs

For a greatthe ice-pan out into the dreaded North Atlantic Just out yonder, not sixty feet aas a cake of ice er than his own It would have made a fine raft for them all: and if only they could have reached it, Grenfell was sure he could have held out for two or three days He could have killed off the dogs one by one, eaten the flesh, and drunk the warm blood The Eskimo would think such awouldevery time

At daybreak, Grenfell re froo twenty ht in his ain Then he ith a sharp realization of the fact that he nal theht he would use his shi+rt for a flag--but the pole was lacking

So in the dark he wrenched the bodies of the dead dogs apart--an extreh, frozen muscles and fibres

But he pole it has ever been ether with his bits of rope and the remains of the seal traces

By this ti, since he had not yet been able to bring hi his coe and bread and butter, nearly twenty-four hours before Round one leg was a rubber band which had replaced a broken garter He chewed on this constantly, and soer and thirst

No ht--except that of men to the rescue--could there have been than the face of the rising sun When he took off his shi+rt to run it up as a flag, he found that it was not so cold as it had been His skeleton flagpole as he tried to wave it bent and buckled--but he found that bythree or four feet over his head, and the least additional heightspied fro hied point called Ireland Head Unhappily for the e there was deserted in winter: the people had shi+fted, bag and baggage, to another settle for their children and see more of other people

Now it settled down to a severe endurance test If Grenfell had been fresh with coht not have been so serious a business to keep that grueso aloft to attract the keen eye of someone ashore But as it was, heto and fro with his strength at a low ebb, and hope barely alive in his heart Again, his iht he saw : but they were trees blown by the wind Then to his joy it see and falling on the waves, as the oars drove it onward He wanted the boat to coht Instead--it was only the glitter of the sun on a block of ice bobbing up and down

Whenever the Doctor sat down to rest, faithful old ”Doc” would lick his face, and then roaain to where the Doctor sat, his eyes and his ears asking: ”Well, why aren't we starting? What is the matter? Isn't it time to be under way?” On a sunny day on the trail aood reason for not being in the traces, tugging and hauling with hisabout, and sos, wondering, no doubt, how soon their master would hand out to them the square meal of fish or seal-meat to which they were accustoun to plan another killing--that of one of the bigger dogs, whose blood he would drink

Nansen had to do the sa to the story told in his book ”Farthest North,” which Grenfell had been reading only a few days before It s, as he hireeaker But fear had not once entered the Doctor's mind His uppermost sensation noas a desire to sleep--and if death came after that, it would only be the answer to a question he had many times asked himself

He looked at the precious matches, to see if they were dry The heads were a paste, except the blue tips of three or four wax ht be used Once I gave Dr