DEATH AND BURIAL OF CAPTAIN HALL. 589 



milk ; he then took a hot bath, a foot bath, with a sponge ; 

 he did not complain of feeling unwell when he drank the 

 cup of coffee ; said he felt tired, and soon after lay down 

 for the night ; I don't think he was sick that night ; he 

 might possibly have been sick without my knowing it; 

 not until a couple of days afterward he had the doctor 

 attend to him ; he was not a man to take much medicine ; 

 Dr. JBessel attended him ; I think it was on the third day 

 when he took to his bed ; he was taken down suddenly ; I 

 thought it was the heat, and the doctor said it was apo- 

 plexy ; he might have been paralyzed before he died ; I 

 do not remember about that ; there were a few times when 

 I thought he seemed to be getting well ; I saw him sitting 

 hi the cabin dressed and writing ; I asked Mr. Morton 

 how he was ; we did not eat in that cabin then ; we had 

 another place for dining, and I didn't go in very often 

 through the day; I did not see him die, but saw him 

 shortly afterward." He rallied and appeared in a fair 

 way to recover. Indeed, he got so much better that he 

 partially resumed his command. But his convalescence 

 was transient and deceptive, and, in the act of issuing an 

 order to some of his men, he had a relapse. 



From this second attack he did not rally, but was almost 

 continuously delirious, until, on the 8th of November, he 

 passed from the scene of his heroic efforts to his eternal 

 home, "Thank-God Harbor" proving to him the port of 

 embarkation for " the bourne whence no traveler returns." 

 Three days later, the cold, frozen shore of Polaris Bay 

 was the scene of a sad ceremony ; a solemn cortege com- 

 posed of those who had dared the perils of the Arctic Seas 

 and lands under his command bore the remains of Captain 

 Charles Francis Hall to their rest in the grave cut in the icy 

 ground; here, assembled around the rude coffin, they join- 

 ed hi the solemn Burial Service of the Protestant Episco- 

 pal Church, read by Mr. Bryan. Over his grave they 

 planted a small American nag. Thus, in the sleep of the 



