The summer disruption of the pack was now evidently close at hand, and it was therefore necessary to come to an immediate decision about the future. We had men in both ships who had passed many winters in “whalers,” and they were unanimously of opinion that the “Alert” had little if any chance of ever leaving her winter quarters. Those with knowledge of naval Arctic work thought otherwise. The “break-up,” when it did come, would probably give us a choice of three alternatives—namely, to advance, to stay where we were, or to retreat. As for advancing, in some very favourable season we might perhaps get the ship about twelve miles further westward and five further north, but this was the very utmost that could be hoped for; and for all purposes of northward extension our present position was just as good. Any advance along the shores of Greenland was utterly out of the question, for the eastward motion of the pack threw its chief pressure on that shore. What, then, would another year at Floeberg Beach enable us to accomplish? Assuming, against all precedent, that our crew would completely recover and be as strong as ever they were—assuming, too, that the whole force of the Expedition, guided by the experience already gained, could be launched northwards over the floes, there could even then be no hope whatever of adding one degree to our north latitude. [Illustration: THE NORTH COAST OF GREENLAND, FROM CAPE BRITANNIA (AT EXTREME LEFT OF UPPER SKETCH) TO THE MOUTH OF ROBESON CHANNEL AND CAPE RAWSON (AT RIGHT OF LOWER SECTION). SKETCHED FROM THE MAIN-TOP OF H.M.S. “ALERT” AT HER WINTER QUARTERS.] Under such circumstances, retreat, if possible before the relief ship was despatched from England, became a duty. There was one objection to it that was often joked about, but of course never seriously entertained—“The public will not be satisfied unless you stay one or two more winters, or at least lose a ship.” We little knew how very near we should be to doing both. [Illustration: PLATE XV.—BACK FROM THE FARTHEST NORTH.—p. 65. On June 14th, the northern detachment, with the relief sledges sent to its assistance, returned to the ship from its ten weeks’ march over the polar floes. The detachment had started northward seventeen strong, but only four remained able to pull in the drag-belts, and of these one was the officer in command. Frost-peeled and sun-burnt, with stiffened knees, and faces and clothes stained with stearine smoke, these four led the way alongside the ship, flying the Union Jack they had carried a month’s hard march beyond every predecessor.] CHAPTER X. Arctic Summer—Flowers and Butterflies—Feathered Visitors—A Strange Shot—Deceptive Game Tracks—The Land Ransacked—No Vestige of Man—Nature’s Records—The Raised Beaches—The Break-up—Farewell to Floeberg Beach—Running the Gauntlet—Robeson Channel Ice-drift—A “Nip”—Walled in by Floebergs—Escape—Reunion with the “Discovery.”