"'It looks like it did, son; it looks like it did; but if it goes under,
we will go over.'
"After we had taken a few hours of sleep, the long-boat landed our
little party of five men and seven dogs. We had food and drink for a two
weeks' trip, were well armed, and carried some of our instruments. It
appeared to be five or six miles to the top of the mountain, but it
proved more than thirty. We were five days in getting there, and did so
only after a dozen adventures that I will tell you at another time.
"We soon began to find stones and dirt in the ice, and before we had
gone ten miles, found the frozen carcass of an immense mastodon--its
great tusks only showing above the level; but its huge, woolly body
quite plainly visible in the ice. The ice was melting, and there were
many streams running towards the open water. It was warmer as we
proceeded. Dirt and rocks became the rule, instead of the exception, and
we were often obliged to go around a great boulder of granite. While we
were resting, on the third day, for a bite to eat, one of the men took a
dish, scooped up some sand from the bottom of the icy stream, and
'panned' it out.
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