THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 661 



of a book for boys. I was unable to understand the temperament 

 or motives that would lead to such things, but the situation for us 

 was plain. 



The outfit that had been left for us was conspicuous for the 

 want of certain things. There were no sledges or means of travel, 

 so that we were as nearly prevented as possible from leaving Banks 

 Island. Indeed it would have been necessary for us, had we de- 

 sired to leave by sled, first to go back overland with pack dogs 

 to the northeast corner and pick up the sleds we had left there, 

 bringing them home on the first snow. This would have required 

 two months of tedious work. Neither had primus stoves been left 

 nor suitable equipment for traveling, but in this respect we could 

 have made out somehow. There were no writing materials except 

 those we had brought with us overland, and scarcely any books 

 to read. All the best had been carried away. 



My companions with the dogs arrived three days after me. 

 The Stevensonian romance of being deserted and marooned ap- 

 pealed far less to them than to me, and feeling ran high for a 

 while, with many remarks of all they would do and say when they 

 got out to civilization. 



We laid plans at once. We would start in two or three weeks 

 back to Point Russell to fetch the sleds. We would kill the neces- 

 sary number of caribou for food and clothing in the fall, and 

 probably in February would cross over to Cape Bathurst and thence 

 to the Mounted Police post at Fort Macpherson and over the 

 mountains to Dawson. What worried the boys most in this con- 

 nection was that obviously we were going to be too late. If the 

 Bear had luck and got out, her men would be paid off and gone. 

 In our bitterness of feeling we assumed for the moment that most 

 of the men had been involved with Gonzales in the destruction of 

 the Sachs and our marooning on Banks Island, except Storkerson, 

 Hadley and Castel. From them I had received letters through 

 Binder stating their unequivocal disapproval of what had been 

 done and saying that they had protested vainly against it. 



As an alternative to this plan we had but one hope — the pos- 

 sible arrival of Captain Pedersen with the Herman to pick up the 

 catch of furs secured by his natives forty miles southeast of us. 

 I knew pretty well that if Captain Pedersen got that near he would 

 come to Kellett to see how things stood. But to make everything 

 doubly sure I asked Masik to go down to the Herman camp with 

 a message for him. 



It took me far less time to grasp the situation than it does to 



