Captain of the Polestar and Other Tales

.September 11th.--Lat. 81 degrees 40' N.; long. 2 degrees E. Stilllying-to amid enormous ice fields. The one which stretches away tothe north of us, and to which our ice-anchor is attached, cannot besmaller than an English county. To the right and left unbrokensheets extend to the horizon. This morning the mate reported thatthere were signs of pack ice to the southward. Should this form ofsufficient thickness to bar our return, we shall be in a positionof danger, as the food, I hear, is already running somewhat short. It is late in the season, and the nights are beginning to reappear.