1915] WAITING FOR THE SHIP 187 



that we had a large amount of meat cached under the 

 rocks, fuel was our next consideration. Our little 

 twelve-foot punt was requisitioned as a coal-carrier. 

 Loaded to the rail on each trip, she brought over from 

 Provision Point in one day 6,427 pounds. The next day 

 our twenty-one-foot sailing-dory transported a total of 

 10,360 pounds. With our 1,260 pounds already on the 

 ground in bags, this gave us a grand total of more than 

 18,000 pounds. At sixty-five pounds a day, which we 

 were using, this should last until May 1st of the following 

 year. 



By force of habit we still kept our eyes on the southern 

 horizon over which ships of all shapes and sizes were 

 continually coming and constantly reported. It is 

 strange how a man sees what he wants to see. Jot and 

 I were rounding Cape Alexander two weeks previous, 

 and the boys declared our twenty-one-foot sail-boat to 

 be the 500-ton steamship Erik from St. John^s,an illusion 

 which persisted for some minutes and was only reluc- 

 tantly dispelled upon our reappearance some five miles 

 from the house. Tanquary, hoping against hope, de- 

 ferred further amputation of his two toes from day to 

 day, preferring to have it done at home. He now con- 

 sented to the removal of his two toes at the first joint 

 by Doctor Hunt. He had suffered for six months, but 

 had shown clear grit all the way through. 



A sub-hunting station was planned for Nerky, forty- 

 five miles below Etah. Here a good Eskimo igloo could 

 be built and the meat secured during the fall cached 

 for our use in sledging south during the winter months, 

 thus obviating the rather difficult route with loaded 

 sledges over the Crystal Palace Glacier inside Cape 



Alexander. As a preliminary step toward the estab- 

 13 



