The steamer had now reached Lady Franklin Bay, which was its destination, and near which Fort Conger, a signal station, was to be established. The ship was unloaded and a house built, the men living in tents the meanwhile, and on the 19th of August, the Proteus bade the explorers good-by and started on her return to Newfoundland.
A number of musk oxen were shot in the vicinity, and now and then a ptarmigan was bagged. The men moved into the house in the latter part of August, and Lockwood directed the laying out of the observatory and the digging of the foundation pier for the transit. The earth was frozen so hard that it was like chipping solid ice. The house gave the men comfortable quarters. On the first Sunday all work was stopped and religious services held. The intention was to send an exploring expedition along the northern coast of Greenland, and it was placed in charge of Lockwood. It would have been given to Kislingbury, the senior officer, but for the fact that he and Greely were not on good terms.
Men were sent to examine St. Patrick's Bay to the northeast, for a site to establish a depot on the channel of exploration. Such a place was found and the exploring parties were continually active, some of them going a good many miles from camp. Game was plentiful, but the wolves were fierce. Numbers were poisoned by means of arsenic mixed with meat thrown in their way. It being the beginning of their Arctic experience, the men enjoyed themselves to an extent that would hardly be supposed. This was mainly because they were kept busy and the novelty of their life had not yet worn off. One pleasant custom was that of celebrating the birthdays of different members of the party, which was done with a vigor that sometimes reached good-natured boisterousness.
When the sun sank far from sight on the 16th of October, every one knew that it would not show itself again for four months. It will be admitted, too, that the weather had become keen, for it registered forty degrees below zero most of the time and the moisture within the house was frozen to the depth of an inch on the window-panes.
With the coming of the long, dismal night the wolves became fiercer, and prowled so closely around the building that no one dared venture far from the door without firearms in his hands, and the men generally went in company, ready for an attack that was liable to be made at any minute.
INTOLERABLE LONELINESS.
Time always hangs heavy when one is forced to remain idle and the dismal night stretches through a third or half of the year. On the 1st of November, Lieutenant Lockwood, accompanied by seven men, left the dwelling to try the passage of the straits, hoping to push his way to the place where Captain Hall made his winter quarters. They dragged a heavily loaded sled after them, upon which rested a boat, which they expected to use in case they reached open water. The men set out bravely and toiled hard, but were compelled to turn back, finding it impossible to make any progress.
No one can describe the horrible loneliness of such a life as the party were now compelled to lead. They played cards and games, told stories, and held discussions until all such things palled on their taste. Then they grew weary of one another's company, and hours would pass without a man speaking a word. Dr. Hayes has related that, when thus placed, he has dashed out of the dwelling in desperation and wandered for miles through the frozen solitudes, for no other reason than that the company of his friends had become unbearable. He stated further that a rooster on his ship deliberately flew overboard and committed suicide out of sheer loneliness.
One means resorted to by the explorers for relieving the frightful monotony was the publication of a paper called the Arctic Moon. The contents were written and copies made by the hektograph process. Then Greely formed a class in arithmetic, and Lockwood taught a class in geography and grammar. Matters were quite lively on Thanksgiving Day (the party being careful to note the passage of the regular days), when foot-races were run and shooting matches indulged in, Greely distributing the prizes.
One of the many curious facts regarding life in the Arctic regions is that its rigors are often withstood better by the inexperienced than by the experienced. The two Eskemo guides were the most depressed of the whole party, and one of them wandered off in a dazed condition. When found miles away, he was running as if in fear of his life, and it was with great difficulty he was persuaded to return. The second native would have run off had he not been closely watched.