658 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



trying to cross one of them his dog team was drowned, or at any 

 rate lost — there seems to be dispute on this minor point. The 

 main thing is that Gumaer got back to the ship, although only 

 after the greatest difficulties. To me it has always appeared a mar- 

 vel that he did get back. From that point of view it was a very 

 creditable performance. 



Storkerson and Kilian pressed on with the survey. How near 

 they came to finishing it can be seen by a glance at the present 

 map of Victoria Island. They still expected that Gonzales would 

 sail away on the day he had threatened and they were doing the 

 survey on a few extra days which, according to their calculations, 

 intervened between the date set by Gonzales for the beginning of 

 the return and the time actually necessary. In other words, they 

 expected to travel back about twice as fast as Gonzales had esti- 

 mated. In this they succeeded. They took their sleds to the 

 south end of Collinson Inlet and proceeded with pack dogs over- 

 land. By throwing away nearly everything they were able to 

 travel overland much faster than we have ever done in summer — 

 almost three times as fast. Still, it was two days past the assigned 

 date when they got to Walker Bay. They fully expected the 

 Bear to be gone but found Gonzales had changed his mind about 

 marooning them. 



On leaving winter quarters the Bear tried to get to Kellett, 

 which was according to instructions, except that I had not looked 

 forward to so early a start. It was found that ice blocked the 

 way and an attempt was then made to reach Cape Bathurst to 

 land dogs and passengers (the Eskimo families). This was also 

 according to instructions. But the ice proved solid towards Cape 

 Bathurst, so they turned again towards Kellett and reached there 

 on the seventh of August. 



Here they found the Sachs three-quarters in the water. Castel 

 and his men had been able to put her in such condition that she 

 was better fitted for a voyage than she had been when we bought 

 her in Nome. Castel expected to be through mapping the bay 

 behind Kellett between the 20th and 25th of August, which he 

 hoped would give my party ample time to arrive. It was his in- 

 tention to set sail with the Sachs about the 25th if I had not come, 

 judging this to be in the spirit of my plans. 



At first Gonzales seemed in agreement with Castel's ideas. The 

 Bear gave a hand in pulling the Sachs off the beach. Her engines 

 were found to be not in first-class order but they could be put in 

 condition, according to the opinion of her engineer, Binder. Later 



