194 THE FUR COUNTRY. or five feet thick below the sea-level. The different declivities of the island, the little hills and rising ground, would of course only affect the upper soil, and it might reasonably be supposed that the wandering island was not immersed more than five feet. This made Hobson very anxious. Only five feet ! Setting aside the causes of dissolution to which the ice-field might be subjected, would not the slightest shock cause a rupture of the surface % Might not a rough sea or a gale of wind cause a dislocation of the ice-field, which would lead to its breaking up into small portions, and to its final decomposition ? Oh for the speedy arrival of the winter, with its bitter cold ! Would that the column of mercury were frozen in its cistern ! Nothing but the rigour of an Arctic winter could con- solidate and thicken the foundation of their island, and establish a means of communication between it and the continent. Hobson returned to the halting-place little cheered by his dis- coveries, and found Long busy making arrangements for the night ; for he had no idea of sleeping beneath the open sky, although Mrs Barnett declared herself quite ready to do so. He told the Lieu- tenant that he intended to dig a hole in the ice big enough to hold three persons — in fact to make a kind of snow-hut, in which they would be protected from the cold night air.
- ' In the land of the Esquimaux," he said, " nothing is wiser than
to do as the Esquimaux do." Hobson approved, but advised the Sergeant not to dig too deeply, as the ice was not more than five feet thick. Long set to work. With the aid of his hatchet and ice-chisel he had soon cleared away the earth, and hollowed out a kind of pas- sage sloping gently down to the crust of ice. He next attacked the brittle mass, which had been covered over with sand and earth for so many centuries. It would not take more than an hour to hollow out a subterranean retreat, or rather a burrow with walls of ice, which would keep in the heat, and there- fore serve well for a resting-place during the short night. Whilst Long was working away like a white ant, Hobson com- municated the result of his observations to Mrs Barnett. He did not disguise from her that the construction of Victoria Island ren- dered him very uneasy. He felt sure that the thinness of the ice would lead to the opening of ravines on the surface before long ; where, it would be impossible to foresee, and of course it would be equally impossible to prevent them. The wandering island might
