282 DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 



in moody silence, and then started oft" howling as if pursued and 

 ran up and down for hours. 



A terrible adventure lay before the explorers. On the 2Oth of 

 March a party was sent out to establish a depot of provisions, and 

 Kane and the rest of his followers waited only for their return to 

 begin the transit of the bay. Late at night on the 3ist, they were 

 working cheerfully by the glare of their lamps, when a sudden noise 

 of steps was heard above, and immediately afterwards Sonntag, 

 Ohlsen, and Petersen came down into the cabin. If there was some- 

 thing startling in their unexpected arrival, much more startling 

 was their appearance. They were swollen, haggard, and scarcely 

 able to speak. 



Where were their companions? Behind in the ice, Brooks, 

 Baker, Wilson, and Pierre all frozen and disabled ; and they them- 

 selves had risked their lives to carry the pitiful news. Where were 

 their comrades lying ? With cold white lips they muttered that they 

 could not tell ; somewhere in among the hummocks to the north and 

 east; the snow was drifting round them heavily when they parted. 

 "Irish Tom" had gallantly remained to feed and care for them, but 

 of their recovery there was little hope. It was useless to put addi- 

 tional questions; the men were too exhausted to be able to rally 

 their ideas. 



A rescue party was quickly organized and set out on the trail 

 of the lost explorers, Ohlsen being taken with them on a sledge as 

 a guide to the locality in which they had been left. Finally they 

 were obliged to leave their tent, cache their pemmican, except a 

 small allowance for each, and proceed through a temperature of 

 nearly 50 degrees. 



It was indispensable, then, that they should move on as rapidly 

 as possible, looking for traces as they went. Yet when the men were 

 ordered to spread themselves, so as to multiply the chances, though 

 they all obeyed heartily, some painful impress of solitary danger kept 

 them closing up continually into a single group. The strange 



