CHAPTER XXVIII 



MIDWINTER TRAVEL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES 



LIKE all of our arctic winters, the winter of 1914-15 was spent 

 in getting ready for the exploratory work of the coming 

 spring. Captain Bernard occupied most of his time making 

 sledges. Much of the material was obtained by stripping the ship of 

 her "ginger work" to secure the hardwood and iron. Our pemmican 

 had gone with the Karluk, and our steward, Baur, and others spent 

 many hours slicing and drying beside the galley stove the meat of 

 polar bears, seals, and caribou which the rest of us killed either at 

 sea or on shore and brought to camp. The Sachs had not brought us 

 much fuel, so that one or two men had to busy themselves con- 

 tinually in searching up and down the coast, under the snow, for 

 pieces of driftwood and hauling these home, sometimes a distance 

 of fifteen miles. 



A special windfall was the discovery of a whale carcass on the 

 beach about ten or twelve miles southeast of winter quarters. 

 One afternoon Natkusiak and I were going down that way with 

 a dog team, traveling about half a mile from the land through a 

 moderately thick snowstorm. We were starting out on an extended 

 trip meaning to be gone several days if not weeks, and we were ap- 

 proaching land for the purpose of finding deeper snow for making 

 camp. We were nearing the beach and it was already so dark that 

 rifle sights could no longer be seen for good shooting when a band 

 of nine wolves made rapidly toward us. One's first thought must 

 always be to look after the dog team, and as I was walking ahead 

 I took hold of the leading dog, telling Natkusiak to upset the sled 

 and thus prevent the team from dragging it when the wolves and 

 the shooting got them excited. Natkusiak stepped to one side, 

 kneeling on one knee and waiting for the wolves to come as close 

 as they would. At about fifty yards they drew up sharp when 

 the dogs began yelping with excitement, and Natkusiak fired at 

 one of the two large wolves — there were evidently the parents and 

 seven nearly grown pups. They immediately broke and ran, Natku- 

 siak firing several times after them — we were now near a ship's 



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