Grenfell and the dogs found themselves floundering in a sea of slush
ice that would not bear their weight. The faithful dogs had done their
best, but their best had not been good enough. With super-human effort
Grenfell managed to cut their traces and set them free from the
komatik, which was pulling them down. Even now, with his own life in
the gravest peril, he thought of them.
When the dogs were freed, Grenfell succeeded in clambering upon a
small ice pan that was scarce large enough to bear his weight, and
for the moment was safe. But the poor dogs, much more frightened than
their master, and looking to him for protection, climbed upon the pan
with him, and with this added weight it sank from under him.
Swimming in the ice-clogged water must have been well nigh impossible.
The shock of the ice-cold water itself, even had there been no ice,
was enough to paralyze a man. But Grenfell, accustomed to cold, and
with nerves of iron as a result of keeping his body always in the pink
of physical condition, succeeded finally in reaching a pan that would
support both himself and the dogs.
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