Adrift on an Ice - pan. By Wilfred T. Grenfell. (Constable and
Co. 2s. net.)—Dr. Grenfell, whose work as a medical missionary in Labrador is known to all men, tells here the story of an adventure which well-nigh proved fatal. He was called to see a lad who had undergone an operation and was in danger from bad nursing, and he started with a sledge and eight dogs. To put the matter briefly, in a short cut across an ice-covered bay the ice failed, and he had the greatest difficulty in reaching a " pan" which would hold him and his dogs, and drifted along with it. The situation was full of dangers ; the most imminent was death by freezing. Dr. Grenfell had to protect himself from this, at least for a time, by killing three of his dogs, using their skins and flesh to keep the life in him. It was a horrible thing, but it had to be done. "Every Christian man must be a lover of dogs," he says; and yet he had to stab them to the heart. If he had not, not only he but their five comrades must have perished also. This may go for something; but, after all, the chief reason was this. Dr. Grenfell knew perfectly well that his life was worth more to the Labrador folk than many dogs ; and he had to do the best he could for himself. The whole makes a most striking story, apart from its bearing on another problem. The question—is it right to sacrifice a dog's life for a man's?—was brought to an immediate issue; and this lover of dogs could not but see that the answer was plain.
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