CHAPTER XXV. 



A CHAPTER OF UNPARALLELED SUFFERINGS AND PROVIDENTIAL DELIVER- 

 ANCES. TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION. THE EVER-MEMORABLE I^TH 

 OF OCTOBER, 1872. THE PARTY ON THE ICE. THE FIELD BROKEN. 

 THE POLARIS LOST TO SIGHT. THE SUPPLIES. UNAVAILING EFFORTS 

 TO REACH THE SHORE. " PRETTY WELL STARVED." JOE AK*> HANS 

 INVALUABLE MEMBERS OF THE PARTY. THANKSGIVING DAY. "VERT 

 WEAK, BUT, PLEASE GOD, WE WILL WEATHER IT ALL." CHRISTMAS AND 

 NEW YEAR'S DAY. " JUST AS WE WERE PLAYED OUT, SOMETHING CAME 

 ALONG ; THANKS TO GOD'S HOLY NAME." THE LONG NIGHT OVER, 

 THE GLORIOUS SUN APPEARS. "WE WANT WATER TO ESCAPE, AND, 

 PLEASE GOD, WE WILL GET IT WHEN THE TlME COMES." " TO-DAY, 

 GOD HAS SENT US FOOD IN ABUNDANCE." THE FLOE BREAKS, AND 

 THE PARTY ARE SCATTERED ON THE PIECES. THEY TAKE TO THE BOAT 

 AND GET ON A SMALL FLOE. FORCED TO THROW AWAY CLOTHES AND 

 FOOD. No FOOD, NO LIGHT. WASHED OUT. CANNIBALISM THOUGHT 

 OF. A TERRIBLE NIGHT. THE CRISIS. THE RESCUE. SAFE ON 

 BOARD THE TIGRESS, AND AT LAST IN PORT. THANK GOD, ALL AVELL ! 



TRULY, the night of the 15th of October, 1872, cannot 

 he forgotten in life by any one of the adults of the nine- 

 teen human beings who for six weary mouths were doomed 

 to float about among the icebergs, fields and floes of the 

 northern latitudes, duriug a cousiderable portion of the 

 time seeing no sun, but drifting in the gloomy darkness 

 of an Arctic winter, often without food, and with no 

 adequate shelter from the bleak winds and intense frosts. 

 We have seen how, on that night, the gallant Polaris was 

 beset by the ice; how a tremendous gale added to her 

 peril; how, in the midst of a blinding snow-storm, with 

 the gale still at its height, first the Innuit women and 

 children, then a large amount of provisions, clothing and 

 other articles were transferred to the field of ice to which 



she was anchored; how Captain Tyson and a portion of 

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