APPENDIX I 329 



pinned to a relief-ship, and we nearly wore out the field- 

 glasses watching the horizon toward the mouth of the 

 sound, where we ought first to see a ship. If either of us 

 woke at night he went to the door to take a look. All 

 the time we were hungry; I could cordially sympathize 

 with Tanquary's remark one night as we crawled into 

 our sleeping-bags, "These people that go in for high 

 thinking and plain living don't meet my approval at all." 



The strain on our stomachs was hardly worse than 

 the strain on our tempers. We were irritable and sensi- 

 tive and sometimes quarrelsome. I remember well one 

 day when Tanquary had sent me out on a wild-goose 

 chase over boggy and rocky country to try to kill some 

 eider duck. The duck were wont to come in close 

 enough to land to be within gun-shot range, along a sand- 

 bar upon which they fed at low water. I found when 

 I got to the place that the tide had just begun to ebb. 

 I came back more than a little indignant, and remarked 

 that it was perfectly evident that not all people had the 

 same conception of what constituted "low water." 

 Tanquary resented the tone of voice with which I said 

 it, and retorted in kind. One word led to another, with 

 the result that we were hardly on speaking terms for a 

 week. 



Hoover's "wheatless days" long ago began in the 

 Arctic. Tanquary and I were without bread nearly all 

 summer. We carefully conserved all our meager sup- 

 plies. When first it became evident that we should 

 face shortage of food, we took careful stock of what 

 we had. Among the few things we had left was part 

 of a small tin of prunes. We counted the prunes, and 

 found that if relief reached us by August we could make 

 the prunes last if we each ate four a day. 



