458 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



had placed a hundred-gallon iron kerosene tank and on top of these 

 some boxes containing something I have now forgotten, sand or 

 perhaps coal. These were the corner posts. With the yards of the 

 Star and some pieces of driftwood he had made a roof well above 

 the roof of the tent, covered it with canvas and then with snow. 

 From the front door of his tent led a long alleyway with alcoves 

 on either hand and in each alcove a dog. Another alleyway ran 

 to a store tent, and the whole was under one snow roof. Seen 

 from the outside everything looked flat, for it was covered with 

 snow and there was little indication of a human habitation be- 

 yond ventilators and chimney, but inside everything was cozy. 

 All the work of the camp could be done on a bad day without going 

 outdoors. Without meaning that going outdoors in the Arctic 

 even in a storm is hardship, still, it is an indubitable convenience 

 to have everything under one roof especially as it saves a great 

 many useless motions. The alleyways sloped a little upward, with 

 the result that instead of the current of air being up from the dogs 

 to the house, it was from the house out into the dog alley and even- 

 tually up through the door at the far end. 



Early in the morning of the next day, a fine one, Wilkins and 

 Martin started south to communicate with Alingnak and help in 

 the search. They had gone only a few miles when they met Aling- 

 nak's party and Emiu with them. His story was this: 



He had found the depot without any trouble, had loaded the 

 pemmican and other things on the sled, and had started at top 

 speed for the camp, expecting to be home in a few minutes and 

 trusting everything to his leader dog. As Alingnak had discovered 

 by the trail, the dogs had passed within a hundred yards of camp 

 to leeward as the wind then was, but they had given Emiu no 

 warning, passing right by. He did not realize that anything was 

 wrong until he found himself in snow softer than it ought to be on 

 flat sea ice. He then stopped and examined the ground, finding 

 grass. At first he circled around trying to find the snowhouse; 

 our lantern was in plain view but he must have taken it for a star. 

 After about an hour's search he sensibly concluded to go back to 

 the island and trj^ a fresh start. He found the island and the site 

 of the depot and set off again, feeling sure that this time he would 

 find the house. 



Probably he was completely turned around and drove in an 

 entirely wrong direction although he asserted that he even after- 

 wards felt sure he took the right one. However that may be, he 



