An Eskimo Dog Team.
Sometimes Kane wanted to travel with a heavier load than the dogs could draw. For this purpose he used a larger sledge, thirteen feet long and four feet wide, upon which he could carry fourteen hundred pounds of baggage. This sledge was called the “Faith,” and nine men were often harnessed to it. Each man wore a shoulder belt or, as it was called, a “rue-raddy.” A walrus-skin trace attached this rue-raddy to the sledge.
In this way heavy loads of provisions were drawn over the ice. Kane stored these supplies along the route that he intended to take as soon as the sun should shine again. By thus sending provisions ahead and burying them, Kane hoped to be able to make the journey without fear of starving; for his whole party could never have carried enough at once to last during the time he expected to be gone.
On long expeditions where the men were obliged to remain away from the ship all night, each man carried his bed with him. An Arctic bed is a bag made of fur, into which one crawls, covering up all save one’s nose.
On one occasion some of the men delayed in returning from their trip, and it was feared that they were lost. After waiting twenty days for them to return, Kane harnessed four of his best Newfoundland dogs to the “Little Willie” and started out to search for his missing companions. He took but one man with him. The ice was full of cracks and very dangerous. The dogs galloped swiftly along; whenever they came to a fissure, over it they leaped and over flew the sledge also, simply by reason of its rapid movement. At length the party came to a fissure so wide that the dogs could not leap across it. They were going too fast to stop or turn aside, and dogs and sledge were thrown into the water. The two men, who had been running beside the sledge, quickly cut the harness from the dogs. The faithful animals, freed from the traces, sprang to the ice, and with their intelligent help the sledge was dragged out.
Kane and his companion were wet to the skin with icy cold water, and the temperature was below zero. What could prevent men and dogs from freezing? But not a moment was wasted in thinking about what might happen. They all started on a run for solid ice, and they ran so fast that by the time a safe place was reached, they were quite warm. Several days later they came upon the friends they were seeking. The return to the ship was made more easily, although, while leaping a fissure, one unlucky man was thrown into the water. The rest pulled him out, none the worse for his cold bath.
The men on the Advance were delighted to see Kane and their lost comrades again. They rejoiced because every one was safe. They had also another reason for happiness, for the dreary night was passing away, the twilight was growing longer and brighter, and day—a day as long as the night—was coming. Soon after this Dr. Kane climbed to the top of a high hill to see the sun. It was a hard climb, but who would not have taken it for a first sight of the sun, after a night so long?
Each day the sun came and stayed longer, and with the sun came warmer weather. At last the sun rose so high in the heavens that it could not sink below the horizon at all. Then it shone, not only all day, but also all night.