306 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



ing the direction of the house, and the course we 

 meant to pursue ; he also said, that if he should 

 be able, he would go and search for Vaillant and 

 Credit ; and he requested my permission to take 

 Vaillant's blanket, if he should find it, to which 

 I agreed, and mentioned it in my notes to the 

 officers. 



Scarcely were these arrangements finished, 

 before Perrault and Fontano were seized with a 

 fit of dizziness, and betrayed other symptoms of 

 extreme debility. Some tea was quickly pre- 

 pared for them, and after drinking it, and eating 

 a few morsels of burnt leather, they recovered, 

 and expressed their desire to go forward ; but 

 the other men, alarmed at what they had just 

 witnessed, became doubtful of their own strength, 

 and, giving way to absolute dejection, declared 

 their own inability to move. I now earnestly 

 pressed upon them the necessity of continuing our 

 journey, as the only means of saving their own 

 lives, as well as those of our friends at the tent ; 

 and, after much entreaty, got them to set out at 

 ten A.M. : Belanger and Michel were left at the 

 encampment, and proposed to start shortly after- 

 wards. By the time we had gone about two hun- 

 dred yards, Perrault became again dizzy, and 

 desired us to halt, which we did, until he, re- 

 covering, proposed to march on. Ten minutes 



