The detachments separated on 11th April. We of the supporting sledges bade both good-bye with three cheers, and watched them slowly wind out of sight amongst the hummocks, the one to the westward, the other poleward; and as we retraced our steps on the return journey, their “One, two, three, haul!” came faintly to us across the ice.
MIRAGE, 7TH APRIL, 1875.++
CHAPTER IX.
News from the “Discovery”—Sickness—Peterson’s Death and Burial—The Relief of the Northern Detachment—The most Northern Grave—The March to 83° N. Lat—Its Results—The Advance of the Season—Anxiety for the Safety of the Western Party—Its Return—Two Hundred Miles to the West—Further Efforts Poleward Hopeless.
MEANTIME, our friends in the “Discovery” had passed the winter in not a little anxiety about our fate, Their efforts to communicate in autumn were no more successful than ours, and as spring slipped by and no news came, the suspense increased. Could it be that the “Alert” had penetrated beyond the range of communication, or that any disaster had happened to her? It had been arranged that at the latest a party would reach the “Discovery” from her before the 1st April, and now March was nearly gone. News, however, was close at hand. The dog-sledge, “Clements Markham,” had gallantly fought its way southward past the steep cliffs of Robeson Channel, and when, on 24th March, its crew rounded Cape Beachy and left the last of the cliffs behind them, they knew their troubles were over. Next day they came to a recent sledge-track, and the dogs at once struck out like hounds on a fresh scent. The last promontories were soon passed, and as Discovery Bay opened out, a cheer from the galloping sledge brought a crowd of figures racing from the ship to meet it. In a moment all were shaking hands in a storm of questions. Where was the “Alert”?—had she passed “Navy Opening” or got to “President’s Land”?—and what were the prospects polewards?