THE RETURN OF THE SUN 235 



frozen. They had passed through a very trying ex- 

 perience. At Cairn Point the ice was found so rough 

 that in the gale and heavily drifting snow they had 

 been compelled to stop and build a snow igloo for 

 shelter. From Tongwe's account, she and one of the 

 children must have nearly frozen to death. The 

 little two year old in the bag on its mother's back 

 seemed to have fared best of all and to have stood 

 the trip without much hardship. I brewed hot tea 

 for them and made them quite warm and comfortable 

 before they left me to go over to their igloo. 



Hare hunting was a failure. There were some of 

 them around, but they so nearly matched the snow 

 in shade that I could not see them until they ran, 

 and neither Ilabrado nor I could get a shot; so, as 

 Ilabrado had no food at Etah for his dogs, and the 

 trip had served to break the monotony and loneliness, 

 we turned back to Annootok, following the ice foot 

 route this time that Kulutinguah had taken, and mak- 

 ing a quick but cold journey. 



We were glad indeed to reach shelter, for the wind 

 was still strong, and shortly after our arrival shifted 

 to the southward, and a blizzard wild and terrible 

 broke upon us. No one could have traveled in it for 

 long without a shelter. As quickly as it came the 

 storm subsided, and when I arose on the second morn- 

 ing after our return, the sky was clear, not a breath 

 of air stirred, and the weather was perfect though 

 intensely cold. 



The red glow at noontime in the southeast was 

 daily increasing. Indeed the sun was already, ac- 



