Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/54

 with, while out of the blackness came the wail of the angry surf bemoaning the loss of its prey.

The wind increased toward noon, and freed us from suspense. Resolved this time to give Cape Race a wide berth, we ran off E. S. E., and not until I was sure, by the color of the water, that Newfoundland was at a safe distance, did I let the schooner fill away on her course toward Cape Farewell. By this time a stiff breeze was blowing from the south, and as the night closed in we were running before the wind under a close-reefed topsail.

A succession of southerly gales now chased us northward, and we hauled in our latitude with gratifying rapidity. In a few days we were ploughing the waters which bathe the rock-bound coasts of Greenland.

On the 30th of July I had the satisfaction of being once more within the Arctic Circle. That imaginary line was crossed at eight o'clock in the evening, and the event was celebrated by a salute from our signal-gun and a display of bunting.

We now felt that we had fairly entered upon our career.

We were twenty days out from Boston, and had made throughout an average run of a hundred miles a day. The schooner had proved herself an excellent sea-boat. The coast of Greenland was about ten leagues away, obscured by a cloud; we had Cape Walsingham on the port beam, and the lofty Suckertoppen would have been visible over the starboard quarter had the air been clear. We had not yet, however, sighted the land, but we had made our first iceberg, we had seen the "midnight sun," and we had come into the endless day. When the hour