Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/205



INCREASING DARKNESS.—DAILY ROUTINE.—THE JOURNAL.—OUR HOME.—SUNDAY.—RETURN OF SONNTAG.—A BEAR-HUNT.—THE OPEN WATER.—ACCIDENT TO MR. KNORR.—A THAW.—"THE PORT FOULKE WEEKLY NEWS."—THE TIDE-REGISTER.—THE FIRE-HOLE.—HUNTING FOXES.—PETER.

The steadily increasing darkness was driving us more and more within doors. We had now scarcely any light but that of the moon and stars. The hunt was not wholly abandoned, but so few were the hours wherein we could see that it had become unprofitable. The gloom of night had settled in the valleys and had crept up the craggy hills. The darkness being fairly upon us, we had now little other concern than to live through it and await the spring, and a return to active life and the performance of those duties for which our voyage had been undertaken. As a part of the history of the expedition, I will continue to give from my diary our course of life.

November 5th.

Our life has worked itself into a very systematic routine. Our habits during the sunlight were naturally somewhat irregular, but we have now subsided into absolute method. What a comfort it is to be relieved of responsibility! How kind it is of the clock to tell us what to do! The ship's bell follows it through the hours, and we count its shrill sounds and thereby know precisely how to act. The bell tells us when it is half-past seven in the morning, and then we "turn