384 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



but why go on with such a disagreeable subject. I had 

 the remainder weighed, and I am quite sure we had twenty- 

 seven pounds. The animal was fat, and as he had been fed 

 on pemmican, presumably clean; but, immediately upon 

 halting, I sent Alexai off with his gun inland toward the hut, 

 to determine whether that was a myth like our present one. 

 He returned about dark, certain that it was a large hut, for 

 he had been inside of it, and had found some deer-meat 

 scraps and bones. 



For a moment I was tempted to start everybody for it, but 

 Alexai was by no means sure he could find it in the dark, and 

 if we lost our way we would be worse off than before. We 

 accordingly prepared to make the best of it where we were. 

 We three wet people were burning and steaming before the 

 fire. Collins and Gortz had taken some alcohol, but 1 could 

 not get it down. Cold weather, with a raw northwest wind 

 impossible to avoid or screen, our future was a wretched, 

 dreary night. Erickson soon became delirious, and his talk- 

 ing was a horrible accompaniment to the wretchedness of 

 our surroundings. Warm we could not get, and getting dry 

 seemed out of the question. Every one seemed dazed and 

 stupified, and I feared some of us would perish during the 

 night. 



How cold it was I don't know, as my last thermometer 

 was broken by my many falls upon the ice; but I think it 

 must have been below zero. A watch was set to keep the 

 fire going, and we huddled around it, and thus our third 

 night without sleep was passed. If Alexai had not wrapped 

 his sealskin around me, and sat alongside of me to keep me 

 warm by the heat of his body, I think I should have frozen 

 to death. As it was, I steamed and shivered and shook. 

 Erickson's groans and rambling talk rang out on the night 

 air, and such a dreary, wretched night I hope I shall never 

 again see. 



TUESDAY, October 4th, 114th day. At the first approach 

 of daylight we all began to move around and the cook was set 

 to work making tea. The doctor now made the unpleasant 



