130 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
Mamen could report on the condition of the trail 
and keep it open and at the same time carry out 
the essential part of my plan of getting the supplies 
well along towards the land in advance of the main 
party. If he should fail to find the mate’s party, 
the assumption was that they had gone on to 
Wrangell Island. 
At 2 p. m. Mamen came back to the camp; with 
him was Williams. When some distance along 
the way Mamen had dislocated his knee-cap, which 
had already been dislocated when he was ski-jump¬ 
ing in Norway. He had been going on, however, 
in spite of his accident, when he met Chafe and 
Williams returning. Williams had fallen through 
the young ice about four miles out and they had 
decided to return so that he could get his clothing 
dried out, when they met Mamen. The latter had 
told Chafe of his accident and it was decided that 
he and Williams should come back to camp while 
Chafe took over the command of Mamen’s party 
and went on towards the island. 
I was busy about the camp when I heard them 
coming. I knew that something must be wrong 
and went out to meet them. Mamen was riding 
on the sledge and Williams was running to keep 
warm, for the temperature was about thirty-five 
degrees below zero and he had got pretty wet in 
getting out of the water. I rushed them into the 
