The tarpaulin was cut up and distributed around. Out of a powder flask, with a wick made of cloth, Jack improvised an alcohol lamp to afford light.
After supper the entire party rolled up in their overcoats. Jack closed the aperture or door tightly, and then saturated a piece of cloth with alcohol several times and set it on fire.
This heated the air of the hut quite comfortably, and the experiment was repeated several times throughout the night.
The next day Jack gave the boys various bits of advice tending to show them how to avoid the cold.
The provision stock was getting low, and he and Hugo started out with loaded guns to find what game they could.
They returned successful before nightfall. They had found a large bird resembling a duck and quite a quantity of a species of moss.
“We will fare better to go farther to the interior,” said Jack that night.
“And leave this place where the Arctic may return!” asked Hugo.
“I have watched the movement of the ice,” said Jack in reply, “and I believe that the Arctic, borne before it, will be carried too far to come back readily. At any rate, we will take a tramp back from the coast to-morrow.”
The next morning they packed up their traps and left the open water behind them.