Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/79

 *

for an instant, cast one lingering look at the opening, and then dropped through the companion scuttle, repeating from the "Inferno":—

"They who enter here leave hope behind."

The officers were calling from below for their coffee, and it was never discovered whether the steward was thinking of the cabin or the icebergs.

During four days we continued threading our way through this apparently interminable labyrinth. The days passed wearily away, for the wind, at best but a "cat's paw," often died away to a dead calm, leaving us to lounge through the hours in a chilly fog or in the broad blaze of the constant daylight. If this state of things had its novelty, it had too its dangers and anxieties.

The bergs, influenced only by the under-currents, were, to us, practically stationary; and the surface flow of the water which drifted us to and fro, when we lost our steerage-way, rendered our situation any thing but safe. They soon came to be looked upon as our natural enemies, and were eyed with suspicion. We were often drifted upon them, and escaped not without difficulty and alarm; and many times more we saved ourselves from collision by the timely lowering of the boats and taking the schooner in tow, or by planting an ice-anchor in another berg and warping ourselves into greater security. Sometimes we tied up to a berg and waited for the wind. We had hard work, and made little progress. I found consolation, however, in my sketch-book, which was in constant use; and one fine day I got out my photo graphic apparatus. Landing on a neighboring island, with the aid of my two young assistants, Radcliffe and