He was able to do almost anything _after a fashion_, and was never idle for a moment.
Even when his hands chanced to be unemployed, his brows were knitted, busily planning what to do next.
"Well now, gentlemen," resumed the captain, "let us consider the order of business.

The first thing that must be done now is to unstow the hold and deposit its contents on the small island astern of us, which we shall call Store Island, for brevity's sake.

Get a tent pitched there, Mr.Bolton, and bank it up with snow.

You can leave Grim to superintend the unloading .-- Then, Mr.Saunders, do you go and set a gang of men to cut a canal through the young ice from the ship to the island.
Fortunately the floes there are wide enough apart to let our quarter-boats float between them.

The unshipping won't take long.