LEAVING THE SHIP BEHIND. 599 



the camp pitched, and sleeping gear and mess gear con- 

 venient to the boats, in the event of our having to dine 

 here. The doctor with the sick remained, of course, 

 with the tents. 



By 8.30 p. m. Melville and his party and the two ad- 

 vanced dog sleds have come back to camp, having left 

 the first load at the crack in the ice mentioned this 

 morning, it having widened as I feared during our sleep. 

 By nine the second installment was sent along, and by 

 9.30 the camp was broken, and the whaleboat, with 

 two more dog loads, under way. 



Mr. Dunbar and two men remained ahead to try to 

 get a large piece of ice down to bridge the opening. I 

 had instructed Melville, in case Dunbar had managed to 

 bridge the opening, to get all our traps through the gap, 

 and as he did not return for the first cutter, I concluded 

 this was being done. At 11.30 P. M. Leach and Erick- 

 sen arrived from our old camp with the dog sled and 

 half the remaining provisions, the balance being left 

 with the dingy some distance back. As I was anxious 

 to get forward to see the state of things ahead, I sent 

 Ericksen and Leach back with three dogs for the dingy, 

 and placing No. l's mess gear in the clog sled, I started 

 on with three more dogs. This brought us to — 



June 22d, Wednesday. — I hardly had gone one 

 fourth mile when I came to an ice opening, and in spite 

 of my strongest efforts, the dogs scattered across some 

 lumps, capsized the sled, dragged me in, and sent all 

 my mess gear flying, having accomplished which, and 

 reached the other side themselves, they sat down and 

 howled to their hearts' content. 



Floundering across, I managed to collect my scattered 

 property and get it safely over, and then righted and 

 dragged out the sled. As soon as resistance was re- 



