1914] THE RETURN FROM THE POLAR SEA 99 



warm weather of Eureka Sound, feared that it might 

 be for some distance. 



The 19th gave us our last drubbing. Nothing else 

 would have ever tempted us to round Cape Rutherford 

 that day but a can of jam which Ekblaw had promised 

 to leave under the Svendson cross at Sverdrup's old 

 winter quarters in Rice Strait. How we fought against 

 that wind and smothering drift, fairly choking for 

 breath! The dogs quit and huddled in a ball, and we 

 took shelter in the lee of our sledges and yelled that 

 ever-repeated "Huk! Huk!'* which now, after four 

 years, we should be yelling in our sleep. After quarter- 

 ing the shore in vain and peering underneath every sus- 

 picious-looking pile of rocks, we ascended the hill and 

 removed the stones from beneath the cross, yearning 

 for something sweet. How a man craves it! Green 

 declared he knew he could drink a gallon of molasses! 

 We finally sat down to the same old menu — tea, biscuit, 

 and pemmican, and were thankful for that. 



The cross near which we pitched our tent had been 

 erected by Sverdrup and his men in memory of the 

 ship's doctor, by the name of Svendson, who was found 

 dead in his tent at Fort Juliana some thirty miles west 

 of the Fram. His body was brought to the ship and 

 given a seaman's burial by lowering it through a hole 

 in the ice of Rice Strait. 



From this point a rapid run brought us to Peary's 

 old hut at Payer Harbor, which I entered at once, ex- 

 pecting to find two cans of beans buried in the north- 

 western corner, as per agreement. My eyes nearly 

 popped out upon beholding a box of canned peaches, 

 pears, and marmalade! The beans may be there yet! 

 Doctor Hunt had visited the hut, leaving for the west- 



