For a little time the party progressed very well. But after awhile the new ice between the broken floes was found thin. The seams thus frozen had to be leaped. Sometimes they were wide, and the dogs in their attempts to spring across broke in. Three times in less than as many hours one had received an arctic bath. The men trotted along side, leaping, walking, running, and shouting to the dogs. Extended and exhausting diversions were made to avoid impassable chasms or too steep hummocks. Thus four days had passed in a fruitless search for the missing ones.
On the morning of the fifth day, about two hours before the transient sun showed his glowing disk, Dr. Kane climbed an iceberg to get a sight of the road ahead. In the dim distance on the snow a black spot was seen. Is it a bear? No, it now stretches out into a dark line. It is the sledge party! They see their leader's tent by the edge of a thinly-frozen lead; into this they launch their boat and come on, singing as they come. The doctor, in breathless suspense, waits until they draw near, and counts them: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven! They are all safe! Three cheers go up from both parties, followed by hearty hand-shaking and congratulations. The depot enterprise was a success.
CHAPTER IV.
LOST AND RESCUED.
THE sun had disappeared, but the moon completed her circuit in the heavens with great beauty. Her nearest approach to the horizon was twenty-five degrees. For eight days after the return of the party to the vessel it shone with almost unclouded brightness, as if to give them a joyful welcome.
When November came our explorers were well settled in their winter-quarters. They had made them by judicious ventilation and a careful distribution of heat tolerably comfortable. Below decks they had a uniform temperature of sixty-five degrees above zero, and under the housing of the upper deck it never went below zero, while outside the thermometer averaged twenty-five degrees minus.
While shut up in the darkness, relieved only by the light from the sparkling stars and the glowing moon, the daily routine of the ship's' duties were strictly performed. Each had his assigned work. The monotonous meals came at the stated hour, and the bell noted the changing watches. The morning and evening prayers, and the religious observance of the Sabbath, were pleasant and profitable prompters to serious thought. These became more and more needed as the inactive season progressed. The continued darkness without, made dense often by heavy clouds, wore upon the spirits of the men; besides, their light within became less cheerful by the failure of the supply of oil. The lamps refused to burn poor lard, and muddy corks and wads of cotton floating as tapers in saucers filled with it gave but a lurid light and emitted an offensive smoke and odor. It would be strange, indeed, if in this ice-imprisoned company there were no homesick ones, however bravely the feeling might be suppressed. Hans, the Esquimo, at one time packed his clothes and shouldered his rifle to bid the brig's company good-bye. A desperate, lone journey homeward he would have had of it! It was whispered that in addition to his drawings to his mother there was at Fiskernes a lady-love. He, however, was persuaded to stay on shipboard, and Dr. Kane gave him for his sickness a dose of salts and promotion. They worked well, and he seems to have been very contented afterward.
The usual resort was had to dramatic performances, fancy balls, and the publication of a paper called the "Ice-blink." A favorite sport was the "fox-chase," in which each sailor in turn led off as fox in a run round the upper deck, followed by the rest in chase. Dr. Kane offered a Guernsey shirt as a prize to the man who held out the longest in the chase. William Godfrey sustained the chase for fourteen minutes, and wore off the shirt.