CHAPTER XXXII. 
ESQUIMAUX SLEDGES—BONSALL’s RETURN—RESULTS OP THE HUNT 
-RETURN OF WITHDRAWING PARTY—THEIR RECEPTION — THE 
ESQUIMAUX ESCORT — CONFERENCE — CONCILIATION — ON FIRE — 
CASUALTY-CHRISTMAS — OLE BEN — A JOURNEY AHEAD — SET¬ 
TING OUT-A DREARY NIGHT — STRIKING A LIGHT — END OF 
1854. 
I was asleep in the forenoon of the 7th, after the 
fatigue of an extra night-watch, when I was called to 
the deck by the report of “ Esquimaux sledges.” They 
came on rapidly, five sledges, with teams of six dogs 
each, most of the drivers strangers to us; and in a 
few minutes were at the brig. Their errand was of 
charity: they were bringing back to us Bonsall and 
Petersen, two of the party that left us on the 28th of 
August. 
The party had many adventures and much suffering 
to tell of. They had verified by painful and perilous 
expei’ience all I had anticipated for them. But the 
most stirring of their announcements was the condition 
they had left their associates in, two hundred miles off, 
divided in their counsels, their energies broken, and 
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