240 THE FUR COUNTRY. had been close at hand, and had the north-east wind blown hard fo another hour Victoria Island would have struck against the coast o Russian America. And then at this critical moment a fatal, 1 terrible wind had driven the island away from the mainland bad to the open sea, and it was again in the grasp of the irresistibL current, and was being carried along with a speed which nothing could check, the mighty south-east wind aiding its headlong course to that terribly dangerous spot where it would be exposed to cor trary attractions, either of which might lead to its destruction an( that of all the unfortunate people dragged along with it. For the hundredth time the Lieutenant and Mrs Barnett dig cussed all the bearings of the case, and then Hobson inquired if an; important changes had taken place in the appearance of the district between Cape Bathurst and Walruses' Bay % Mrs Barnett replied that in some places the level of the coaa appeared to be lowered, and that the waves now covered tracts Band which were formerly out of their reach. She related what ha( happened at Cape Esquimaux, and the important fracture whid had taken place at that part of the coast. Nothing could have been less satisfactory. It was evident tha the ice-field forming the foundation of the island was breaking uj What had happened at Cape Esquimaux might at any moment b reproduced at Cape Bathurst. At any hour of the day or night th houses of the factory might be swallowed up by the deep, and th only thing which could save them was the winter, the bitter winte which was fortunately rapidly approaching. The next day, September 4th, when Hobson took his bearings, h found that the position of Victoria Island had not sensibly changei since the day before. It had remained motionless between the tw contrary currents, which was on the whole the very best thin, that could have happened. " If only the cold would fix us where we are, if the ice-wal would shut us in, and the sea become petrified around us, exclaimed Hobson, •" I should feel that our safety was assured. W are but two hundred miles from the coast at this moment, and b venturing across the frozen ice-fields we might perhaps reach eithe Russian America or Kamtchatka. Winter, winter at any price, le the winter set in, no matter how rapidly." Meanwhile, according to the Lieutenant's orders, the preparation for the winter were completed. Enough forage to last the dogs th
