STARTLING DISCOVERY. 215 



was one of the strongest men of the party. That morning I 

 started with the hospital sled, which was dragged by seven 

 dogs, driven by Erickson, the doctor and I assisting over the 

 hummocks. We advanced over rough moving ice with great 

 difficulty about half a mile, and then set up the tent for the 

 three invalids Chipp, Lauderback, and Alexai to await the 

 coming up of the rest of the party. I myself would never 

 go inside the hospital tent. Thus the survivors trudged 

 along, the well heavily handicapped by the six or seven who 

 furnished no motive power at all. Twenty-one men did all 

 the work for the thirty-three. 



At the end of the first week the captain found by observa- 

 tion that the drift had more than neutralized the way cover- 

 ed by our advance ; that, in fact, we had lost twenty-seven 

 miles by the drift to the northwest in excess of our march 

 to the south. This, of course, was kept a profound secret. 



By and by Lauderback and Alexai got well enough to 

 work; and finally Mr. Chipp, after several ineffectual requests 

 to be put on duty, was allowed to relieve Melville and tako 

 charge of the working party. Melville was put in charge of 

 the road gang, which consisted of Lee and Seaman Johnson, 

 with the dingy and the team of clogs. Their principal duty 

 was to keep in position the blocks of ice that were used as 

 temporary bridges to enable the sleds to pass safely over the 

 fissures. We often came to wide water holes, which caused 

 us much delay in ferrying over. The method cf doing this 

 was as follows : 



First, a large ice piece was found ; on this the boats and 

 sleds were placed, and then all the floating mass was drawn 

 over by the men on the other side, who had transported 

 themselves across by the little dingy or even on smaller ice 

 floes. Some of these water spaces were as much as a hun- 

 dred yards wide. These openings were not connected, and 

 of course could not be used in the direction we wished to go. 

 On many occasions the boats had to be launched and paddled 

 across, and then hauled up again on the opposite side. Chipp 

 took charge of this part of the work admirably, and the men 



