THE RESCUE 



the freighter Wagland carrying cryolite ore from 

 Ivigtut to Philadelphia, though this required a 

 trip of 400 miles in a motor-boat along the rocky 

 Greenland coast from Holstensborg to Ivigtut, 

 a coast skirted by reefs and without a beacon of 

 any kind. 



The observatory staff had invited the departing 

 members of the Expedition to a farewell dinner 

 at the observatory on the evening of September 

 2nd, and an alluring menu was anticipated. Ru- 

 mor had it that a pie had been achieved, and so 

 it happened that in mid-afternoon I was carrying 

 a pack along the trail, as we all did when climbing 

 to the observatory as a means of getting up the 

 supplies. Stewart and Etes were still at Camp 

 Lloyd but expected soon to follow me. 



When less than half way to the Observatory I 

 suddenly stopped dead in my tracks, for the un- 

 mistakable hum of an outboard-motor came to my 

 ears. The sound proceeded from under the cliff 

 near the Camp Lloyd landing, and it must indi- 

 cate that one of our two motor-boats was ventur- 

 ing out in this heavy sea. Soon the Mullins steel 

 boat could be seen as it got out so far that the 

 bank no longer hid it, and there it rose and fell 

 like a cockle shell in the great waves. "What", I 

 demanded of my startled intellect, "could induce 



267 



