324 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
fall victim to some ailment of the civilization to 
which they had so longed to return. To walk in 
shoes again, too, after so many months of wearing 
skin-boots, would be painful for a while. After a 
few days however, they had improved so much 
that I let them go ashore; they realized the neces¬ 
sity of being careful and had no trouble. Ker- 
drillo and his family, too, went ashore at Nome, to 
start on their way home to the North. 
It was marvellous how quickly the men picked* 
up in health and strength. On account of frost¬ 
bite Chafe and Williams were under the doctor’s 
care, though they were otherwise in good shape. 
The sickest man was Templeman; he could not 
have survived many days longer. Munro, Mc- 
Kinlay and Hadley, who was in his fifty-eighth 
year, were all in good condition and would probably 
have lived through another winter. 
We were in Nome until the nineteenth; on that 
day we headed for the south, our first stop St. 
Michael’s. It seemed advisable to keep the men on 
the Bear, instead of transferring them to any other 
vessel; there were no mail-boats leaving for the 
“outside,” and the men were warm and comfort¬ 
able and well cared for. While on our way to St. 
Michael’s we heard by wireless of the stranding of 
the Corwin off Cape Douglas; she was on her way 
from Wrangell Island to Nome, having heard by 
