422 ABRUZZI, THE ROYAL ITALIAN EXPLORER 



hind, and who watched them slowly pass out of sight over the ice 

 and into the cold mysteries of the white region lying towards the 

 north. 



The camp at Teplitz Bay was strangely quiet after their de- 

 parture, the absence of the dogs, no less than the absence of the 

 men, rendering the place lonely and deserted. It was not expected 

 that the auxiliary detachment would be back again for some days, 

 and it was with very great surprise that the Duke, while walking 

 near the hut one day, heard the sounds of dogs barking near at 

 hand. He hastened in the direction whence the sounds came, and 

 was astounded to see Lieutenant Querini coming towards him. 

 Immediately he came to the conclusion that disaster had overtaken 

 the expedition soon after starting, and that the lieutenant was the 

 bearer of ill news, if not the only survivor of the detachment. 



The facts were, however, not so bad as this. What had hap- 

 pened was that the cold had become so intense, after leaving Cape 

 Fligely, that not only the men, but the dogs also, suffered severely, 

 and were almost incapacitated. The experience of a few days 

 revealed many points where improvement could be made in the 

 arrangement of the sledges and their loading, and the commander, 

 realizing that only valuable time would be lost, and perhaps the 

 entire expedition jeopardized, by pushing on under the circum- 

 stances, decided to return to the main camp, so as to overhaul the 

 arrangements, and reorganize the detachments in the light of their 

 experience. 



By the time the detachments were again ready to start, Febru- 

 ary had passed and March loth had arrived. The loss of time, con- 

 sequent on their return, necesitated an alteration in the program 

 of all the parties, and w r hen they set out the second time the order 

 of march was for the first detachment to return after twelve days' 

 march, the second in twenty-four, and the third in thirty-six. The 

 detachments were also varied, so that the main detachment should 

 number four instead of three men. A Norwegian, the engineer 



