Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/125

 beaching the vessel, and this, in the uncertain state of the ice and weather, was not practicable. The rudder hung by one pintle, and after being mended was still unreliable.

While McCormick was making these repairs I pulled up to Littleton Island in a whale-boat, to see what the ice had been doing in our absence. The wind was dead ahead, and we had a hard struggle to reach our destination; but, once there, I found some encouragement. There was much open water along the coast up to Cape Hatherton, but the pack was even more heavy at the west and southwest than it had been before. To enter it would be folly, even with a fair wind and a sound ship. There was clearly no chance of getting to the west coast, except by the course which I had attempted with such unhappy results two days previous.

We were not a little surprised to discover on Littleton Island a reindeer. He was sound asleep, coiled up on a bed of snow. Dodge's rifle secured him for our larder and deprived the desolate island of its only inhabitant.

During our absence, Jensen had been out with Hans, and had also discovered deer. They had found a herd numbering something like a dozen. Two of them were captured, but the rest, taking alarm, escaped to the mountains.

The wind falling away to calm, we got to sea next day under oars, and again entered the pack. More ice had come down upon the island, and all our efforts to push up the coast were unavailing. The air had become alarmingly quiet, considering that the temperature was within twelve degrees of zero, and there was much fear that we should be frozen up at sea.