Dick admitted that it would, though he reprimanded Sandy for his exaggeration of their capabilities.
“Before we get ready to hunt for the Corporal we must draw a copy of this map and leave it for Corporal McCarthy,” Dick directed. “If they don’t return before we leave on a search for the fissure, the copy will give them all the information they need to work on their own accord.”
An hour later the boys had completed a copy of the map and message, detail by detail, and prepared for a few hours rest before they started for the glacier.
The boys awakened after nearly eight hours sleep, to find that the policemen had not yet returned. They immediately set about harnessing a dog team and loading a sledge with a few days’ supplies. They intended to hunt musk-oxen also on their trip inland, and in that way kill two birds with one stone. Provided they failed to locate Corporal Thalman’s prison, they could at least bring back a sledge load of musk-ox meat.
Since Sipsa and his Eskimos could be depended upon to take care of the camp, Dick decided that Toma should go with them if he liked, and found the Indian boy overjoyed at the opportunity to escape the dullness of life at the supply base.
After bidding the grinning, moon-faced Sipsa good-bye, the boys started out, driving their dog team at a gallop. It was not long before they reached a point below the head of the glacial ridge from which they could see the meteor stone near which they had built the cairn.
From there they began to count their strides—approximately 1,760 to a mile, and three miles to the spot where Corporal Thalman had been attacked and captured by Mistak and his band. Dick and Sandy both counted their steps so they might check against each other when the required distance was covered.
At last they reached a mass of boulders sticking up out of the snow which was within a quarter mile of the distance on the map.
“This looks like a likely place for a man to be surprised and captured,” said Dick, signaling them to halt. He referred to the map. “According to the route laid out here, Mistak bore slightly to the left when he went on with his captive.”