£6 CHALLENGER 



and passed through Shoal Tickle at midnight as the moon rose 

 to light up the bleak landscape, and a cold northerly wind began 

 to blow. 



The boat party reached the H.B.C. post at Davis Inlet at 4.30 

 in the morning where they went ashore to shake Peters, the 

 trader, no time being considered unusual for travellers to call in 

 these parts, where each tiny settlement or hut is an oasis of 

 warmth and comfort. Peters was away but the post servant's wife 

 turned out, opened up the house and cooked them a good break- 

 fast before they went on via Big Bay, Black Point, through Windy 

 Tickle and on south to Hopedale, which they reached at 3.30 in 

 the afternoon, completely worn out after 2^ hours' travelling 

 without sleep and with a bitter north vdnd blowing for most of 

 the journey. 



There was no news yet in the settlement of the arrival of the 

 Kyle although the ice was clear and she was expected daily. The 

 time of waiting was spent in trout fishing and in kayaking, and 

 Buck had a kayak made for him to take north. The Labrador 

 summer was beginning, the country was opening up, and visitors 

 arriving. First came Macmillan, bound for Baffin Land to watch 

 the birds nesting, then an American was landed from a schooner 

 to spend the summer in a search for skulls and Eskimo remains, 

 and then followed the Fort Garry, the Hudson Bay Company 

 schooner, on her way north to collect the winter haul of furs. 

 At last, on 9th July, came the Kyle. Bingham could embark for 

 Newfoundland and Buck must head north again by boat. 



Baker had left Dennis in Nain to carry on the work from the 

 schooner Marj Nolander, loaned by Amos Voisey; she was twin 

 masted, with an auxiliary engine. But Dennis had a tale of woe 

 to tell when Buck got back to Nain ; the engine would not go at 

 all, mainly because one of the pistons did not even fit the cylinder, 

 she sailed very badly as all the weight was aft and the sails them- 

 selves were rotten, and of course she leaked like a sieve. So 

 now she was beached again, and while old Amos Fry, a settler, 

 caulked the seams of the hull and pitched the bottom. Buck and 

 Stevenson struggled to fit another engine, loaned by Mr. Grubb. 

 But without cutting away large sections of the engine bedplate 

 this could not be done so it was decided to rely upon sails alone. 

 There were still a few important angles to be observed at the 



