THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 445 



wet on the inside and the outside dried through having us warm 

 inside them, the steam generated in the drying process rising to the 

 roof and clinging in the form of hoar frost. 



On arrival at Kellett we found every one well and received the 

 news thai Wilkins had visited them. The Star had proceeded up 

 the west coast of Banks Island the previous fall without any trou- 

 ble til) she was past Norway Island. There they came to ice that 

 had not moved the whole season. The weather was such that 

 they expected it to move, otherwise they would have stood out to 

 sea twelve or fifteen miles and tried to get around it. But the 

 same wind that prevented the Polar Bear from proceeding up the 

 west coast of Banks Island brought drift ice that closed them in 

 and destroyed the last chance of getting farther. 



The Star was now wintering safely about twenty miles north 

 of Norway Island and I was well satisfied with her performance. 

 She was now exactly in the place where we had wanted her to 

 be last year. This year she was not quite as valuable as she 

 would have been last, for our exploratory journey from that cor- 

 ner to the northwest had been made already and the program of 

 the year lay to the northeast. But in a country where one is 

 accustomed to be thankful for small favors, I was exceedingly 

 grateful to know that we had her outfit that far north. 



With our resources scattered at three such divergent points as 

 Prince of Wales Straits, Cape Kellett and Cape Alfred, it was 

 necessary to have a careful plan of cooperation. For that rea- 

 son I asked Thomsen and Emiu to make a quick trip to the Star 

 to bring Wilkins down for a conference, and occupied myself 

 meantime in formulating a report to the Government, outlining 

 past events and future plans. 



On New Year's day in 1916 Thomsen got back bringing Wil- 

 kins and Castel, and I heard for the first time the complete story 

 of what happened after Wilkins left us on the ice at Cape Alfred 

 early the preceding April.* 



They had reached shore within two or three hours and had pro- 

 ceeded south along the coast, being delayed through the circum- 

 stance that I had been forced to give them only such dogs as 

 were least adapted for our main ice journey. These were good 

 dogs but sorefooted through the crustiness of the snow that lay 

 on the old ice along the Banks Island coast that winter. Boots 

 I had to be made for most of them, but progress was fair in spite 

 i of handicaps. At Kellett the spring was exceptionally early and 



*See ante, p. 294. 



11 



