626 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



It seemed that on the Bear it was generally understood that 

 Storkerson and I were benighted persons who were bent upon liv- 

 ing like savages up in Melville Island. The rest of our people, 

 even the Eskimos, were supposed to be held by us in Melville 

 Island largely against their wills, and the work that we were doing 

 there and to the north was said to be of no account, anyway, for 

 nobody was interested in finding out whether there were more or 

 less islands in that quarter. It had been decided after Wilkins 

 left for the south and Storkerson for the north that the Bear would 

 make no real attempt to get to us in Melville Island although she 

 would make a pretense of doing so. So clear were the plans of 

 not going north, no matter if ice were entirely absent from the 

 straits, that at the time she made her alleged attempt to get north 

 a hunting party was left behind in Deans Dundas Bay to put up 

 caribou meat to be ready when she should return. 



Knight had begun to drop some hints of the real situation to 

 Storkerson while we were on Melville Island but Storkerson did 

 not understand fully then; and still less did I, for he did not tell 

 me everything he learned from Knight. But during our spring 

 journey Knight's mind had undergone a gradual change. On 

 the ship he had allowed himself to be talked into half-sympathy 

 with the malcontents, but now through his association with us 

 he began gradually to appreciate the interest and adventure of 

 the work we were doing and was now even ready to believe in its 

 importance. He had also become a convert to the practicability of 

 living off the country and was beginning to enjoy it. But our boots 

 were getting worn out and every time his feet got wet he became 

 more depressed at the thought of having to wade across Melville 

 Sound and more resentful at the Bear for not being on the north 

 side of it, as he now began to hint she could easily have been. 

 Eventually he felt inspired to give the full story, which he did 

 about as follows: 



The majority on the Bear came to the conclusion shortly after 

 Wilkins left (in May, 1916) that I had no business to order her 

 upon so dangerous an undertaking as the trip to Melville Island 

 and that her party were justified in disobeying. It was further said 

 that they had heard from Bernard Harbor that the Government 

 had approved of Dr. Anderson's refusal to follow instructions of 

 mine in 1914. (How such a rumor could have originated is a 

 mystery, for Wilkins and Castel, the only arrivals from Bernard 

 Harbor, denied having brought any such information.) During 

 midsummer a depot of supplies had been landed on the east shore 



