CHAPTER XXVII. 
DISCIPLINE-BUILDING IGLOE-TOSSUT — MOSSING — AFTER SEAL 
-ON TIIE YOUNG ICE-GOING TOO FAR-SEALS AT HOME-IN 
THE WATER—IN SAFETY—DEATH OF TIGER. 
Tiie party moved off with the elastic step of men 
confident in their purpose, and were out of sight in a 
few hours. As we lost them among the hummocks, the 
stern realities of our condition pressed themselves upon 
us anew. The reduced numbers of our party, the help¬ 
lessness of many, the waning efficiency of all, the im¬ 
pending winter with its cold, dark night, our penury 
of resources, the dreary sense of increased isolation,— 
these made the staple of our thoughts. For a time, Sir 
John Franklin and his party, our daily topic through 
so many months, gave place to the question of our own 
fortunes,—how we were to escape, how to live. The 
summer had gone, the harvest was ended, and- 
We did not care to finish the sentence. 
Following close on this gloomy train, and in fact 
blending with it, came the more important discussion 
of our duties. We were like men driven to the wall, 
quickened, not depressed. Our plans were formed at 
352 
