APPENDIX III 377 



kerosene we had left. When twilight appeared we saw 

 at once that Rasmussen's party had headed out to sea; 

 so we immediately shaped our course toward land. We 

 could just descry Cape Seddon on the horizon. We felt 

 sure that should relief sledges follow back over Ras- 

 mussen's trail, they would know at once where to find 

 us when they came to the place where we turned off, 

 so we had no compunction about choosing our own new 

 route. If none came we might reasonably hope to make 

 Cape Seddon safely. 



It was a desperate trail that sledged its arduous way 

 toward Cape Seddon. Our dogs were so weak they 

 could hardly draw the empty sledges. The going was 

 heavy. Cape Seddon seemed to retreat instead of com- 

 ing to meet us. No relief sledges came. The forenoon 

 went, and afternoon was already well spent when we 

 heard a shout behind us, and we saw a new sledge 

 rapidly overtaking us. It was Ootah's, sent out with 

 two others to help us get back. It was laden with 

 meat, which Ootah distributed as soon as he caught up 

 with us. 



We made tea, boiled some meat for ourselves, and fed 

 our dogs. From despair we passed to exultant delight; 

 the danger and hardship were over, for that time at 

 least. 



While we ate, two other sledges caught up with us. 

 From Ootah and his companions we learned that Ras- 

 mussen had but that day reached Cape Seddon, for he 

 and his Eskimo had gone far out of their course before 

 realizing that they were lost. Though they had headed 

 at once toward the cape, they had been long getting 

 into the settlement there. 



We reached Tooktooliksuah, the Eskimo village on 



