I called my Eskimos together and told them they had done good work, and now they could rest till the ship started for home, and could either stay about the ship, or go in to Lake Hazen, or to Fort Conger with their families.
For myself and the others there was still work of value to be accomplished in the weeks remaining before the Roosevelt would be free, and the programme of this work shaped itself.
Captain Bartlett would take lines of soundings across Robeson Channel, Marvin would run a line of soundings as far north from Hecla as practicable. The Doctor would utilise the time collecting specimens and in making a trip to Conger and I would go west and endeavour to fill in the unknown gap in the Grant Land Coast, between Aldrich’s and Sverdrup’s “farthest.” There were just dogs enough for this programme. Forty odd out of 120 had survived the spring campaign.
The change to the ship was so great after our months of roughing it, that I found it impossible to sleep more than a few hours at a time, and I had some trouble in controlling my appetite, but compromised by eating frequently and lightly.
My feet and legs swelled in a way that might have troubled a novice, but having been through it all before, I did not give myself any worry. Henson, and particularly Clark, were a good deal disturbed by theirs.
The preparation for the western trip gave me little trouble. I had worked out the complete list of supplies, equipment, etc., while tramping mechanically along the Greenland coast, and had jotted the items down while in camp, so now I had simply to give my instructions for such and such things to be made and assembled.
I left the Roosevelt about noon of June 2d with Marvin, Murphy the ‘Bo’sun,’ Koolootingwah, Egingwah, Ooblooyah, Tungwee, “Teddy,” and Koodlooktoo, with six sledges and thirty-nine dogs. The weather was thick, warm and oppressive, and we were four and one-half hours working through soft snow, four to six inches deep, to Williams Island in Black Cliffs Bay. Here the Primus stoves, which I took on this trip as an experiment, refused to burn, and I sent Koodlooktoo back to the ship for others.
EGINGWAH AND THE MORRIS K. JESUP SLEDGE
