GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



company of Qulutana, Ajako's brother-in-law and Ilaitoq, his 

 sister, and Assarpanguaq, Majaq's son. They had been 

 together until a few hours ago when they agreed to part com- 

 pany and hunt alone, each for himself. Their dogs, three 

 teams, were lying some ten hours' walk from the place of our 

 meeting, approximately midway between Marshall Bay and 

 Renslaer Harbour. These were good tidings indeed ! 



The " Eiderduck," of course, gave up his hunt immediately 

 in order to help us. But we also wished to get into communi- 

 cation with Ajako's brother-in-law and sister, so we lit a big 

 fire of cassiope and fired signal-shots in different directions. 

 We spent several hours in a vain search, for the fog prevented 

 the Eskimos from seeing the smoke from our fire, and the many 

 clefts prevented them from hearing the shots. The reindeer 

 hunters roam over long stretches, and Panguaq had informed 

 the " Eiderduck " that if his hunting was successful he might 

 stay away for about a week. If we had been able to get hold 

 of these three people there would have been the possibility that 

 we could return to our comrades at once with relief. But this 

 had to be given up ; so we continued our walk towards the 

 " Eiderduck's " camp, now at a considerably quicker pace than 

 in the morning. 



Meanwhile we had at once pumped the ' ' Eiderduck ' ' for 

 everything worth hearing during the half-year of our absence, 

 and new impressions poured in over us. 



The most important piece of news was that a fresh ship had 

 been sent up after the Crockerland Expedition, led by Peary's 

 famous Captain Bartlett. In the beginning of the summer 

 he had pushed his way through ice and all kind of weather. At 

 a point near Cape Parry Captain Bartlett had met with the 

 Danmark, which later on had returned without going up to 

 Etah. Everything was well in Thule and round about in the 

 different camps ; all our pack-sledges had returned in good 

 condition. 



But the War? Did he know anything about that? 

 Oh yes, he did ! The crew of the ship had told him that it 

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