Every little while a big floe came rushing past, crowding everything out of its way and giving our protectors a shove that set them and us nearer the shore.

From the crow's nest we could see a little open water near the east coast of the channel, but there was none in our vicinity--only ice, ice, ice, of every imaginable shape and thickness.
Still another day, and the _Roosevelt_ was in the same position, with the ice crowding against her; but at the crest of the high tide the grounded floe-berg to which we were attached by cable went adrift, and we all hurried on deck.

The lines were hastily detached from the berg.
As the ice went south, it left a stretch of open water before us about a mile long, and we steamed northward along the shore, pushing our way behind the grounded bergs, trying to find another niche where we might be secure from the now rapidly approaching pack.
It was well for us that the wind was blowing violently off shore, as it eased the pressure of the pack against us.

One place seemed secure, and we were making ready to attach the cables, when an ice-floe, about an acre in extent with a sharp, projecting point like the ram of a battleship, came surging along toward the _Roosevelt_, and we were obliged to shift our position.

Before the ship was secured, she was again threatened by the same floe, which seemed to be endowed with malign intelligence and to follow us like a bloodhound.