Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/89

 We were all ready for sea, and impatient to be off. Our Arctic wardrobe was complete with a few purchases made of the natives in exchange for pork and beans. We were thoroughly prepared for the ice encounters. The lines were all neatly and carefully coiled; the ice-anchors and ice-hooks and ice-saws and ice-chisels and ice-poles were all so placed that they were within easy reach when wanted. The capstan and windlass were free, and Dodge, who had not forgotten his naval experience, reported "the decks cleared for action." Would the tide float away the ice and let us out?

I was growing very restless. The season was moving on; already ice began to form; the temperature was below freezing. The nights made a decided scum on the fresh-water pools. I could count upon only fifteen days of open season. The Fox was frozen up in the "pack" on the 26th of August, 1857, only four days later, notwithstanding her advantage of steam-power.

I did every thing I could to while away the tedium of this detention. I tried the photographic apparatus, and with less satisfactory results than before. I tried dredging, without much to show for it; botanizing, and found nothing which I had not already in my Pröven and Upernavik collections. The flowers warned me of the approach of winter. The petals had begun to fall, and their drooping heads wore a melancholy look. They seemed to be pleading with the chilly air for a little longer lease of life.

One thing only was satisfactorily done. An immense iceberg lay off the harbor, and I had the measurement of it in my note-book, and a sketch of it in my portfolio. The square wall which faced toward my