364 GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 



hours labored with it, consuming only a little warm tea during that 

 time, for they had no means of heating more. One of the four was 

 badly bitten by the frost, and was soon so siricken that he could not 

 even stagger along. A piercing wind was blowing, and to save 

 their comrade's life, the others abandoned the sledge and tried to 

 support him. Soon two of them became exhausted, and the remain- 

 ing one, Sergeant Rice, pushed on alone to the camp in order to 

 bring help. For sixteen hours he fought his way over the twenty- 

 five miles that lay between him and the hut. When he arrived there 

 his lips were too frozen for him to be able to speak at once. 



Weary and weak as the whole party was, eight of -the strongest 

 at once started out to the rescue. When they reached the spot, they 

 found the men lying under the sleeping-bag, which was frozen so 

 hard over them that it had to be cut open before they could be got 

 out. Then they resumed their way to the camp, which they reached 

 after forty-four hours' absence, in which time they had covered 

 forty miles. 



The frost-bitten man, Elison, was almost dead, his face, feet, 

 and hands being absolutely frozen, but so determined were they all 

 to survive as long as possible that he was tended with all the care 

 they could command. He was kept alive in spite of his sufferings, 

 which, during the first week after his rescue, were so severe that 

 he daily called on his comrades to end his misery. 



Meanwhile the memory of the abandoned sledge laden with 

 meat was constantly in the minds of the starving men, whose hunger 

 was now so great that in the darkness after the lamp was put out 

 economy compelled them to use it only for cooking men crept to 

 the stove and devoured any rancid fat left in the lamp. The success 

 of the journey across the ice on March ist was what they looked 

 forward to, and with the arrival of that date they believed their 

 sufferings would be over. 



On January i8th the first one of the party to die passed away, 

 really of starvation, although the men, to keep the ugly word away 



