OF THE POLAR SEA. 451 



carried his gun and ammunition with him when they parted from 

 Michel and Belanger. After we had made a fire, and drank a little 

 of the country tea, Hepburn and I returned to the tent, where we 

 arrived in the evening, much exhausted with our journey. Michel 

 preferred sleeping where he was, and requested us to leave him the 

 hatchet, which we did, after he had promised to come early in the 

 morning to assist us in carrying the tent and bedding. Mr. Hood 

 remained in bed all day. Seeing nothing of Belanger to-day, we 

 gave him up for lost. 



On the 1 1th, after waiting until late in the morning for Michel, 

 who did not come, Hepburn and I loaded ourselves with the bedding, 

 and, accompanied by Mr. Hood, set out for the pines. Mr. Hood 

 was much affected with dimness of sight, giddiness, and other 

 symptoms of extreme debility, which caused us to move very slow, 

 and to make frequent halts. On arriving at the pines, we were 

 much alarmed to find that Michel was absent. We feared that he 

 had lost his way in coming to us in the morning, although it was 



* I 



not easy to conjecture how that could have happened, as our foot- 

 steps of yesterday were very distinct. Hepburn went back for the 

 tent, and returned with it after dusk, completely worn out with the 

 fatigue of the day. Michel too arrived at the same time, and re- 

 lieved our anxiety on his account. He reported that he had been 

 in chase of some deer which passed near his sleeping-place in the 

 morning, and although he did not come up with them, yet that he 

 found a wolf which had been killed by the stroke of a deer's horn, 

 and had brought a part of it. We implicitly believed this story 

 then, but afterwards became convinced from circumstances, the 

 detail of which may be spared, that it must have been a portion of the 

 body of Belanger or Perrault. A question of moment here presents 

 itself; namely, whether he actually murdered these men, or either 

 of them, or whether he found the bodies on the snow. Captain 

 Franklin, who is the best able to judge of this matter, from knowing 



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