74 DISTRESSING SITUATION. 



ketry, and even by cannon, not one report 

 was heard by the party, who, consequently, con- 

 cluded themselves at a much greater distance 

 from the ships than they really were. 



Our adventurers continued to travel in the 

 supposed direction of the ships, keeping within 

 view of each other, and rendering one another 

 all the assistance possible, until a breeze sprung 

 up, and set the pieces of ice in rapid motion. 

 Unable to contend with this new difficulty, and 

 overcome with wet, cold, and sixteen hours of 

 fatigue, they sat down, in a state of despon- 

 dency, upon a piece of ice, determined to submit 

 their fate to Providence. 



It is difficult to imagine a more distressing- 

 situation than that of the party at this moment ; 

 almost perishing with cold and fatigue, with 

 the bare snow for their only resting-place, their 

 supply of provision exhausted, and themselves 

 drifting about in a thick fog, they knew not 

 whither, perhaps far away from their ships, and 

 with the prospect of being carried out to sea, 

 where death would have been inevitable. 



The muskets we had heard on board the ship 

 had, of course, made us extremely anxious to 

 afford relief to our suffering companions ; but, 

 for many hours, no person dared venture over 

 the ice, on account of the fog, and the difficulty 



