254 THE SEA. 



" But ' Sir John Franklin ? ' There we were at home again our own delusive little 

 speciality rose uppermost. Franklin's party, or traces of the dead which represented it, 

 had been found nearly a thousand miles to the south of where we had been searching for 

 them. He knew it ; for the priest (Pastor Kraag) had a German newspaper which told all 

 about it. And so we ' out oars ' again, and rowed into the fogs. 



"Another sleeping halt was passed, and we have all washed clean at the fresh-water 

 basins, and furbished up our ragged furs and woollens. Kasarsoak, the snow top of Sander- 

 son's Hojw, shows itself above the mists, and we hear the yelling of the dogs. Petersen 

 had been foreman of the settlement, and he calls my attention, with a sort of pride, to the 

 tolling of the workmen's bell. It is six o'clock. We are nearing the end of our trials. 

 Can it be a dream ? 



" We hugged the land by the big harbour, turned the corner by the brewhouse, and, 

 in the midst of a crowd of children, hauled our boats for the last time upon the rocks. 



" For eighty-four days we had lived in the open air. Our habits were hard and weather- 

 worn. We could not remain within the four walls of a house without a distressing sense 

 of suffocation. But we drank coffee that night before many a hospitable threshold, and 

 listened again and again to the hymn of welcome, which, sung by many voices, greeted our 

 deliverance." They had been eighty-four days on the trip. 



Kane and his party received all manner of kindness from the Danes of Upernavik. 

 After stopping there nearly a month, and recruiting their health, they left for Godhavn on a 

 Danish vessel, the captain of which had engaged to drop them at the Shetland Islands, should 

 no other or better opportunity occur. Just as they were leaving Godhavn, however, the 

 look-out man at the hill-top announced a steamer in the distance. It drew near, with a 

 barque in tow, and they soon recognised the stars and stripes of their own country. All 

 the boats of the settlement put out to her. " Presently," says the interesting narrative we 

 have followed, " we were alongside. An officer whom I shall ever remember as a 

 cherished friend, Captain Hartstene, hailed a little man in a ragged flannel shirt, ( Is that 

 Dr. Kane ? ' and with the ' Yes ! ' that followed the rigging was manned by our country- 

 men, and cheers welcomed us back to the social world of love which they represented." 

 This U.S. man-of-war which had been sent especially to search for them, had been several 

 weeks among the northward ice before they returned, so fortunately, to Godhavn. A few 

 weeks later Kane was being honoured as only Americans honour those whom they highly 

 esteem. Later, in many ways, he received the fullest recognition in our own country. It 

 is sad to know that he, who had laboured so hard for the welfare of his men, and not 

 merely for science or personal ambition, was the first to pass away. His slight frame could 

 not stand the many drafts which had been put on its endurance, and scarcely fourteen 

 months elapsed from the period of his return till the sad news of his death shocked not 

 merely the world of science but a world of friends, many of whom had never known 

 him in the flesh, but who, from his writings and good report, had learned to love him. 



