A GLAD SURPRISE. 



580 



reached them. In order to make a consecutive story, we must 

 return to that portion of Sir Edward Belcher's squadron whiclv 

 under Captain Kellett, was sent to Melville Island, and which 

 arrived there late in 1852. At this period, Kellett, in the 

 Resolute, and McClure, in the Investigator, were about one 

 hundred and seventy miles apart. 



A sledge-party sent out by Kellett discovered, with the 

 wildest delight, in October, 1852, a cairn in which McClure 

 had deposited, the April previous, a chart of his discoveries. 

 They were compelled to wait the winter through ; and it was not 

 till the 10th of March that Kellett ventured to send a travelling- 

 party in quest of the Investigator. The communication was 

 effected on the 6th of April, 1853. McClure thus describes it : 



" While walking near the ship, in conversation with the first 

 lieutenant, we perceived a figure coming rapidly towards us 

 from the rough ice at the entrance of the bay. He was cer- 

 tainly unlike any of our men ; but, recollecting that it was 

 possible some one might be trying a new travelling-dress pre- 

 paratory to the departure of our sledges, and certain that no 

 one else was near, we continued to advance. The stranger 

 came quietly on : had the skies fallen upon us we could hardly 

 have been more astonished than when he called out, 4 I'm 

 Lieutenant Pirn, late of the Herald, now of the Resolute. 

 Captain Kellett is in her, at Dealy Island.' 



"To rush at and seize him by the hand was the first im- 

 pulse ; for the heart was too full for the tongue to speak. The 

 news flew with lightning rapidity : the ship was all in commo- 

 tion ; the sick, forgetful of their maladies, leaped from their 

 hammocks ; the artificers dropped their tools, and the lower 

 deck was cleared of men ; for they all rushed for the hatchway, 

 to be assured that a stranger was actually among them and that 

 his tale was true. Despondency fled the ship, and Lieutenant 

 Pirn received a welcome — pure, hearty, and grateful — that he 

 will surely remember and cherish to the end of his days." 



