Evening star., 1926-10-10
White Girl Sets Record by Reckless Dash to Join Eskimo
nAnhcBow owheadEx
mt in Arctic BOwhead Expedition.

over In decent orderliness. Then we
Travelled along the side of the lead two
or three miles. 1t had grown percep-
tibly wider since we had crossed 1t a
few days before.
We were now following the old trail
through the rough ice, and ] could
ride only a few feet at stretch.
Meanwhile 1 cast apprehensive eyes
at the ever widening lead. 1t cut the
old pack ice in two clean sections.
The trail coiled in and out along its
steep. evil-looking black side. ! shud-
dered every time we slithered along
the edge.
Kiasik suddenly pointed out NOV
ing slush ice in the lead. That meant
a current. l did not attach much sig
nificance to it, for / was uneducated
in ice lore. A little later klasik
stopped on the top Of an ice peak and
surveyed the country. My eyes saw
nothing unusual.
After twenty minutes Of silent study
Kiasik turned to me and announced.
ice moving" YES" 1 stupidly agreed
with him. seeing no reason to get ex,
cited. He then pointed all around
with graphic gestures. which at last
| comprehended. You mean we are
on moving ice?" gasped. "Eh-eh-en'
he assented.
A Mortified thrill shot through me.
We were on the moving side or the
ice-and the lead separated us from
the stationary side Stunned. l ciuns
to the sled while We scampered uo"h
from the elevation and came OUT oi'
the edge Of the lead. There we saw n
recent trail. But 1t was hopeless Ior
us to try to cross; the lead was IuilS
80 feet wide.
We spent the next hour and hali
in travelling back over our route. Z
got as far az the crack. only 10 iinu
that 1t had opened too wide for a sieo
20 bridge it. We followed along ts
entire length. until it joined open
water We now knew conclusively
that we were on a moving ice foe. L
uras very much frightened and wor-
ried by this time.
The only thing left was to retrace
o,r stens and head for Ookeruksuk's
20 mn near the other end of the Ice
doe We estimated that the piece Oh
ica we were on was about 10 or Il
miles long and perhaps miles Wlue'
It's movement was so slow as 10 pe
scarcely discernible to the eve. n
less the wind crew stronger or tne ice
broke in another place, we shouiu ne
able to travel at q greater Speeu W
ward Oookeruksuk's camp than the
ice was travelling away from IL. :,
Rut the memory of the next ~
hours is the most nightmarish out OF
NV years in the Arctic. There was
no level piece of ice the size OF t"'
square feet. The sled was never 81
multa neously on both runners from
the time it left AttOyuks tran.
I could not keep up with the oogs.
climbed and slipped. fell and crawled'
disappeared into crevices from which
7 thought I should never extricate
myself.
A short time after l became snow
blind and could no longer distinguish
snace from ice. 1t was impossible to
ride ON the sled. Of course. / should
have had my brains dashed out in a
few moments. l CROPPED and stag
rered along behind the gradually
weakening dogs.
I fell number of times and had u
lie long while before ] could get up
kiasik waited and helped me. nut
finally he himself, as his leg uneX
nectedly sank hip-deep in soft, snow
covered spot. sprained one knee and
was less able to come to my rescue.
Once. l fell, Spra1nlng Dotn WrlStS,
and refused to move. l was blind and
dizzy. My entire. body was one agon-
lied ache. 1t seemed the will of Prov
idence that l should lie there. at the
bottom of a sharp piece of ice, and
die. 1 closed my eyes and lapsed into
unconsciOusnesS.
l came back to earth prOtestingly.
Kiasik was shaking me. I tried tC
fight him off. but he. poor boy. chung
to me and shook and shook. "Tuvvra
tuvvra, Flag. flag" he kept repeat
ing. There, there. over there is the
flag pole Of Ookeruksuk." / could