Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/128

 the boat, side by side. Balto was reading to Ravna from his Lappish New Testament, for both had made up their minds that they must drown, and were preparing for death.

That day the ice tilted and rolled like a raft on the angry waves, so that it was almost impossible to cook the soup for their dinner. The poor frightened Lapps did not speak a word, but the rest of the men knew no fear, and laughed and joked as usual.

When night came, all the men, except Balto and Sverdrup, went to bed in the tent; Balto preferred to sleep in a boat, and Sverdrup was to keep watch.

Slowly and calmly, brave Otto Sverdrup paced up and down the ice. The floe rocked like a ship at sea, and the heavy waves dashed over it, threatening to wash away the entire camp. Several times Sverdrup was obliged to hold the boat in which Balto was sleeping, to keep it from being swept off the ice. Once it seemed that the tent must be washed off also, and Sverdrup stepped up to it and unfastened one of the hooks. He meant to call the men, so that they might get into the boats, and, if possible, escape with their lives. But Sverdrup paused a moment. The sea seemed to grow quieter, and a current arose which quieted the breakers and changed the course of the drifting ice, which, instead of sailing out to sea, now floated in the opposite direction.

When Nansen awoke in the morning, he was surprised to find the open sea far off, and the ice drifting calmly toward the land. All the party rejoiced that they had remained on the ice, which at one time seemed so dangerous. Their safety was due to the fearlessness and calm judgment of Sverdrup.

The work of launching the boats and dragging them over the ice continued for a week longer. One morning