His position was rendered all the more aggravating by the fact that, a
week after he was beset, the main body of the ice in the strait opened
up and drifted to the southward, leaving a comparatively clear sea
through which he could have pushed his way without much difficulty in
any direction; but the solid masses in which they lay embedded were fast
to the ground for about fifty yards beyond the vessel, seaward, and
until these should be floated away there was no chance of escape.

"Get up some powder and canisters, Mr. Bolton," he exclaimed, one
morning after breakfast, "I'll try what can be done by blasting the
ice. The highest spring tide will occur to-morrow, and if the ship don't
move then we shall--"

He did not finish the sentence, but turned on his heel and walked
forward, where he found Buzzby and some of the men preparing the
ice-saws.

"Ay, ay," muttered the mate, as he went below to give the necessary
directions, "you don't need to conclude your speech, captain. If we
don't get out to-morrow, we're locked up for one winter, at least, if
not more."

"Ay, and ye'll no get oot to-morrow," remarked Saunders, with a shake of
his head as he looked up from the log-book in which he was making an
entry. "We're hard and fast, so we'll just have to make the best o't."

Saunders was right, as the efforts of the next day proved. The ice lay
around the vessel in solid masses, as we have said, and with each of the
last three tides these masses had been slightly moved. Saws and ice
chisels, therefore, had been in constant operation, and the men worked