CHAPTER XVII. 
TIIE PLEDGES — TnE ARGUMENT — FAREWELL TO THE BRIG-THE 
MUSTER-THE ROUTINE — TIIE MESSES. 
Our last farewell to the brig was made with more 
solemnity. The entire ship’s company was collected 
in our dismantled winter-chamber to take part in the 
ceremonial. It was Sunday. Our moss walls had been 
tom down, and the wood that supported them burned. 
Our beds were off at the boats. The galley was un¬ 
furnished and cold. Every thing about the little den 
of refuge was desolate. 
We read prayers and a chapter of the Bible; and 
then, all standing silently round, I took Sir John Frank¬ 
lin’s portrait from its frame and cased it in an India- 
rubber scroll. I next read the reports of inspection 
and survey which had been made by the several com¬ 
missions organized for the purpose, all of them testifying 
to the necessities under which I was about to act. I 
then addressed the party: I did not affect to disguise 
the difficulties that were before us; but I assured them 
that they could all be overcome by energy and subor- 
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