ANXIOUS WAITING. 37 



out further accident, and had been there about a week when we 

 arrived. The boat was picked up later in a badly damaged 

 condition, and given to the finder. 



While Young outlined his experience we hunted up Smith, 

 who had been making himself useful as a clerk to the factor at 

 the Post, Mr. Bell, and all went on board the Julia as soon as 

 she arrived, to report and relieve in a measure the anxiety of 

 the professor and the boys. 



The day appointed for meeting the river party was the day 

 on which we reached Rigolette, August 25th, and so a sharp 

 lookout was kept for the two remaining members of the party, 

 on whom, now, the failure or success of that part of the ex- 

 pedition rested. As they did not appear, we moved up to 

 a cove near Eskimo Island, at the eastern end of Lake Mel- 

 ville, the following day, and there spent four days of anxious 

 waiting. Some dredging and geological work was done, and 

 an attempt was made to examine more carefully the re- 

 mains of the Eskimo village before referred to on Eskimo 

 Island, which some investigators had thought the remains of 

 a Norse settlement. The turf was too tough to break through 

 without a plow, and we had to give it up, doing just enough 

 to satisfy ourselves that the remains were purely Eskimo. 



All the work attempted was done in a half-hearted man- 

 ner, for our thoughts were with Gary and Cole, and as the 

 days went by and they did not appear, but were more and 

 more overdue, our suspense became almost unbearable. 

 Added to this was the thought that we could wait but a 

 few days more at the longest, without running the danger 

 of being imprisoned all winter, and for that we were poorly 

 prepared. 



The first day of September we moved back to Rigolette to 

 get supplies and make preparations for our voyage home, as it 

 was positively unsafe to remain any longer. The Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence is an ugly place to cross at any time in September, 

 for in that month the chances are rather against a small vessel's 

 getting across safely. 



It was decided that the expedition must start home on Wed- 

 nesday, the 2nd, and that a relief party should be left for Gary 



