The Scheme of the Expedition—Fort Conger—Arctic Wolves—Atmospheric Marvels—A Terrific Storm—Influence of the Sun—Lieutenant Lockwood's Expedition—The Second Winter—Preparations for Departure—They leave Fort Conger—A Remarkable Ice Passage—They fail to make Cape Sabine—A New Camp—Rations running Short—Fruitless Efforts to reach Food DepÔts—Starvation and Death—A Bitter Blow—The Arrival of the Thetis.

In 1881 the Government of the United States determined to send out another expedition towards the North Pole, and a vote of $25,000 having been passed by Congress for the purpose, Lieutenant Adolphus Washington Greely was appointed to the command. Lieutenant Greely, who was an officer in the 5th Cavalry regiment, had, as his companions, three officers and twenty-one men selected from the United States army.

The scheme of the expedition was to proceed by steamer as far north as Lady Franklin Bay, where they were to form a depÔt on Grinnel Land, and, using it as a base, push forward, by means of dog-sledges over the ice, and by steam launch over the open water, as far north as it was possible to get.

The steamer Proteus, a vessel 467 tons and 110 horse-power, was chartered by the explorers to convey them from New York to Lady Franklin Bay. They sailed in June and proceeded to Upernavik, in Greenland, where they took on board their sledge dogs and two Eskimo, Jens and Frederick, to look after them. On July 1 they resumed their journey in fairly open water. The season was especially mild, and they were able to make excellent travelling through the unimpeded water. On the way they stopped at Cary Islands and examined the records left there by Sir George Nares in 1875, and which had been examined once before by Sir Allen Young, in 1876. The sea was full of white whales, narwhals, and grampus. The latter has the reputation of being a voracious feeder, one authority stating that a dead grampus was found, choked by a seal he had attempted to swallow, although, when he was opened, his stomach was found to contain no fewer than thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals.

On August 4 the Proteus, for the first time during the voyage, was stopped by the ice. Being built specially for navigating the ice-covered seas, she was very powerful in the bows, which were further embellished by a strong iron prow. Thus she was able to force her way through ice which would have been impassable to a lighter craft. Her method, when she was faced by moderately thin ice which was yet thick enough to stop her ordinary progress, was to steam astern for a couple of hundred yards and then rush full speed at the ice. The strength of the iron prow and the force of her powerful engines drove her into the floe, but the operation was one that required great care. As she approached the floe, the crew, running from one side of the deck to the other, caused her to roll as she struck, the engines being reversed directly her prow penetrated the ice, so as to prevent her wedging herself in. This exciting operation was repeated several times when she met the floe in Lady Franklin Bay, and only by its means was she able to ram her way through and reach the destination of the expedition.

A site for landing was selected on the north of Discovery Bay (where the Discovery wintered in 1876), and on August 11, 1881, Greely landed, and proceeded to the cairn which had been erected by the Nares expedition. Here he found two copper cases labelled "Reports and General Information." The date upon them, which showed when they were deposited, was August 11, 1876, exactly five years before to a day.

Proceeding a little distance from the spot where the Discovery winter quarters had been erected, a suitable situation was marked out for "Fort Conger," which was to form the base of the operations pending the time when the relief ship was due to take the expedition home again.

SHOOTING MUSK OXEN IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.

These animals form a welcome addition to the larder of the Arctic explorer.

During the following week every one was hard at work erecting the frame house which was to form their home during the next two years, unloading stores and other articles belonging to the expedition, arranging the heavy casks and cases of imperishable provisions near the house, and exploring and hunting over the surrounding country. The hunting was a necessary part of the business, for winter would soon be in and no fresh meat would then be obtainable. So a few of the best shots spent their time in the valleys round the bay, where a large number of musk oxen and other game frequented.

On August 18, all the stores, &c., belonging to the party were landed from the Proteus, and that vessel, being discharged, got up steam and bade farewell. She was, however, prevented from getting out of sight until August 26, the ice setting in rapidly and strongly. The men of the party worked with such a will that they had their house built, the recording instruments erected in proper localities, the provisions stacked, and everything in order sufficiently early to permit them to carry out some surveys while the weather was yet mild enough for sledge travelling. Attention was also given to obtaining as much game as possible, and by the time that the temperature was cold enough to warrant their going into winter quarters and giving up outside work at any distance from Fort Conger, they had obtained for their larder twenty-six musk oxen and ten ducks, besides hare, seal, and ptarmigan, in all 6000 lbs. of fresh meat for their own food, and an equal amount for the dogs.

In the middle of September they were visited by a large pack of wolves. These were first discovered prowling over the ice on the harbour in front of the encampment, and, fearing the loss of some of the dogs, as well as provisions, a hunting party went out to shoot them. But the wolves were too cunning, keeping out of range until the men were tired out. They were frequently fired at, but none fell, although, as subsequent events proved, this might not have been due to bad marksmanship. The Arctic wolves, as was discovered later, are perhaps the most tenacious of life of any of the Northern animals.

One was seen, a day or so later, within a hundred yards of the house. It was immediately fired at, and rolled over with a bullet through the body; but before the marksman could get over to where it lay, the apparently dead creature scrambled to its feet and made off, bleeding profusely. The trail left by the blood was distinctly visible on the snow, although the wolf itself, being covered with pure white fur, was quite invisible. For over an hour the trail was followed, and when at last the dead body was found, it lay practically bloodless, having struggled on while there was a drop of blood in its veins. In view of the difficulty of shooting them, the men resolved to poison them. But here, again, the wolves were not to be caught.

The first time that poisoned meat was put out it was left untouched. Some good meat was added, and at once disappeared, though the pieces containing poison were still left alone. The poisoned baits were then taken up, and only good meat put down, the wolves always taking it until, their confidence being aroused, a few poisoned baits were mixed with the other. The experiment succeeded so well that when the baits were next visited four wolves and one fox were found dead. The others, evidently alarmed, made off and did not again return.

As October passed the phenomena of the solar halo and aurora began to make their appearance. The observation of atmospheric conditions being one of the objects of the expedition, great attention was paid to these displays, and some excellent descriptions were given of them. One which occurred on October 21 and lasted five hours is thus described by the leader of the expedition:—

"It consisted of two concentric rings, distant 23° and 46° respectively from the sun, which were marked by five mock suns where the rainbow tints were most clearly displayed. This was followed at evening by the first aurora display, in the form of a delicate convoluted ribbon of colourless light. On the 24th there was another halo. This was a double one, there being two perfect concentric half-circles, distant 23° and 46° from the sun, each half-circle having a contact arch of magnificent clearness. No fewer than six mock suns appeared, two on either hand and two above the real sun, with prismatic colours in each case as vivid, and clear as in any rainbow, the heavens being filled with a great glow and wealth of colour."

After the sun had gone and the twilight of the long winter night had set in, the sky was vivid, at one time, with a wide sweep of red, yellow, and blue, marked by bars of white light running up and down. Later, when the moon had risen, further atmospheric marvels were recorded.

On one occasion the moon was surrounded by two circles, 22° and 46° above the horizon. Both were topped by contact arches, and within them six mock moons were present, two on each side of the true moon, and two directly above it, all of which were brilliant with the colours of the rainbow. Spires of light proceeded from the moon vertically, reaching downwards to the horizon, and upwards to the outer circle. In addition to these, a brilliant streak of white clear light extended from the moon, horizontally, on both sides, completely round the horizon, and now and again a faint mock moon of rainbow colours appeared high over the whole, and another very low under it, making eight mock moons all visible at the same moment round the real one. The moon was also seen surrounded by a corona of four distinct bands of coloured light, the first white, the second yellow, the third blue, and the outer one red.

But all the experiences of the winter were not so gratifying as these aerial displays. As soon as the snow lay thick on the ground the men banked it up against the sides of the house until they were completely covered in up to the eaves. It then froze on the outside, and the house was practically covered in with ice. This was of very great value in preventing the loss of heat from the interior, and, later on, in saving the house from being blown away in a terrific hurricane which occurred. But even with the protection of the frozen snow outside, and the constant burning of fires and lamps inside, the temperature of the house was, in midwinter, so cold that any water accidentally spilled on the floor turned to ice, and unless the ink-bottle was kept near a burning lamp, the ink froze at once. Outside everything except alcohol was frozen solid, the mercury being hard in the thermometers, and even the rum getting thick as syrup. The lime-juice, of which a daily ration was taken, was frozen into tablets, and so quickly did any liquid turn to ice that some of the sledge-dog puppies were frozen to the ground through running on to the place where the warm contents of the slush-bucket were thrown.

Early in January the barometer, falling very rapidly, warned them that a severe storm was approaching. Suddenly a fierce gust of wind swept over the house, followed by a steady blow, the apparatus for registering the velocity of the wind showing it to be at the rate of eighteen miles an hour. The barometer continuing to fall, a man was sent out to take an observation from an outside station, but the force of the wind had increased so much that he could not face it alone, and two men had to go. The air was soon filled with driving snow, and the rate of the wind reached fifty miles an hour. It was now only possible for six men, supporting one another, to stand against the dense volumes of snow which the wind carried. When the velocity attained to sixty-five miles an hour, fears were entertained as to the safety of the house. But still the wind increased until, in a series of terrific gusts and squalls, the house rocked and trembled as the register marked ninety miles an hour. It was a moment of intense anxiety for the members of the party, for the destruction of the house at that period of the year would almost inevitably have meant their own destruction. Fortunately it was securely built and so well protected by the banked-up snow, that it withstood the fury of the hurricane.

This furious outburst was the final effort of the winter, for within a few days of its occurrence the sky began to show signs of the approaching sunrise; with the advent of light the spirits of the party, necessarily depressed by the prolonged darkness, rapidly resumed their normal contentment. When at last enough natural light existed for the men to see one another, they were amused at the appearance of their faces. The prolonged absence of sunlight had entirely robbed their cheeks of any semblance of ruddiness, their complexions having changed to a ghastly yellowy green tint, as though each one was suffering from a severe attack of sea-sickness. The murky light of the lamps had not revealed the change, and the more vainglorious were considerably disturbed at their bleached cheeks, fearful lest the pallor should always remain, like the whiteness of the bear's fur. But it passed off under the influence of the sunshine.

Nor was this the only change produced by the sun. The effect of it upon the land was so pronounced as almost to seem marvellous. Directly spring set in sledge parties were despatched in all directions to survey and spy out the country. One was led by Greely himself, its course being along the route marked out, for a certain distance, by one of the Discovery parties in 1876.

Passing beyond the limits of the previous exploration, a large river, entirely frozen over, was discovered, and along its course the party made their way. The ice was wonderfully smooth in comparison with that on the salt water, and excellent travelling was made, the men and sledges frequently being able to slide for a hundred yards at a time. At the head of the river they found an enormous glacier completely blocking up the valley, extending five miles from side to side, and 175 feet high. This was late in April, and everywhere the ground was covered with ice and snow, desolate and motionless, with no sign of life, and no sound, save the faint gurgle of running water which was occasionally noticed under the ice on the river.

Early in July, little more than two months later, this valley was again visited, but so great was the change in its appearance that the men might have doubted its identity with the cold, desolate place they had previously seen, but for the existence of the sparkling glacier. The river now flowed along, glittering in the bright sunlight, between banks covered with flowering plants. Bright yellow poppies gleamed all over the verdure-clad slopes, with sturdy heath blooms, daisies, and other blossoms mingling, and over them were flitting innumerable white and yellow butterflies. Humble bees droned, and flies, including the familiar daddy-long-legs, were everywhere present, as well as their arch-enemies, the spiders. Ptarmigan, their white plumage somewhat speckled with dark feathers, plovers, and birds of smaller size, were seen on the wing; while over the verdant sides of the valley and along the banks of the river, large herds of musk oxen were browsing, with calves following the cows. The sky was brilliantly blue and almost free from clouds. In the face of so much that was beautiful and full of life, it was difficult to realise that a few weeks later the valley would again be desolate and deserted, owning once more the supremacy of the icy grip of the frost and snow.

Exploring the valley carefully, some very interesting discoveries were made of ancient Eskimo dwellings. A number of relics were obtained, some of them being implements which were quite unintelligible to the Greenland Eskimos who were with the party. The remains of the houses showed that they had originally been substantial structures, built of slate, and must have been permanent residences rather than mere summer quarters.

While the interior of the country was being explored, other sledge parties set out over the frozen sea. One of these journeyed North, and reached the spot where the Alert had passed the winter in 1875. It was intended to continue the journey over the ice towards the Pole similarly to the sledge party Commander Markham and Lieutenant Parr had led, but the ice was too rough for them. They passed beyond Cape Sheridan and set out towards the North, but turned back, finding "nothing but an inextricable mass of huge bergs, and enormous hummocks piled up in a similar manner as when journeyed over by Commander Markham." The scientific instruments they had with them had to be abandoned at one place, owing to a sudden opening of the ice, but they approximated their highest latitude as being 82° 56' N. From the summit of a high berg, they fancied they saw open water to the North, and then they returned to the land, finding cliffs which rose 2000 feet straight out of the water, and along the base of which the ice lay piled in tremendous heaps.

Another party, under Lieutenant Lockwood, the second in command of the expedition, set out in the early spring across the frozen straits to Greenland. This was over a similar route to that taken by Lieutenant Beaumont of the Discovery; but the later expedition, not having to struggle against the affliction of scurvy which had proved so disastrous to the Discovery party, was able to reach a far higher latitude.

The party consisted of Lieutenant Lockwood, Sergeant Brainard, and the Eskimo Frederick, and they succeeded in reaching the most northerly point that had yet been discovered, not only on the coast of Greenland, but also in the Arctic regions. The latitude recorded was 83° 23' 8" N., and thus the honour, which for three hundred years had been the boast of the British, the honour of having attained the nearest point to the North Pole reached by man, was wrested from the British Lion by its cousin, the American Eagle.

Although only three men were in the party which reached this high latitude, the party which set out from Fort Conger comprised thirteen men and five sledges. The experience gained by the members of the Nares expedition was of the utmost value to subsequent explorers, and the members of the Greely expedition always made acknowledgment of this fact, coupled with very complimentary references to the skill, the courage, and the devotion of those whom they termed "our kin from over the sea." Thus it was that in laying the plans for this northerly trip they provided for a series of food depÔts and relief parties all along the route. Several of the former had been placed in position during the early spring, and there is no doubt that this arrangement contributed very materially to the success of the enterprise. The last depÔt was formed when nearly in sight of Cape Britannia, and from thence the small party of three pushed forward. The dog team saved them an enormous amount of labour by dragging the sledge for them, but even then they found the travelling exceedingly difficult. Their sleeping-bags were damp, and consequently they were always compelled to rest in great discomfort. As they approached Cape Britannia the route became more difficult, and their best march was sixteen miles in ten hours. Beyond the cape an island was reached, to which the name of the leader, Lieutenant Lockwood, was given, and the extreme point of which furnished their "farthest North." The coast line still showed beyond, and to the most distant point the name of Cape Washington was given. Then the small band turned back, having succeeded in reaching a few miles nearer the Pole than Commander Markham, whose journey, however, was over the frozen sea, whereas the other was along the Greenland coast.

The following spring, to anticipate the course of the narrative, another effort was made to reach Cape Washington, but so rapid a thaw set in that the party had to turn back before reaching as far as Lockwood Island. They, however, secured all the relics of Lieutenant Beaumont's party, including a British ensign, which were faithfully preserved throughout the terrible privations the expedition was fated to undergo. These relics were subsequently forwarded by the United States Government to the British and are now in the Greenwich Museum with the Franklin mementoes, treasured not only as emblems of British courage but also of American good-will. Of the memorable record left by Lieutenant Beaumont at Repulse Bay, its perusal by the members of the Greely expedition is thus described by the leader:—

"This brilliant record of British courage, discipline, devotion to duty and endurance, must ever affect deeply all who may read its full details. To the men of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, who justly appreciated the terrible contingencies of the situation, and who bore similar dangers, this story, as told by the gallant Beaumont, was full of deep and assuring interest."

The American festival of "Decoration Day" occurred while the party were at Polaris Bay, the place where the two Discovery men who died were buried. The festival is one for the commemoration of American heroes, and on that day throughout the United States all the graves of their heroes are decorated. Here on the bleak, barren Greenland coast they remembered the festival, and kept it by taking the Stars and Stripes from the sledge poles and draping them over the rough monuments erected above the remains of the two British sailors.

The second winter that was passed at Fort Conger was monotonous and gloomy. The experience of the previous period of darkness was of great service, inasmuch as the comfort of the expedition was improved in many ways. The piled-up snow which had formed so useful a protection the year before was carried right over the roof, considerably increasing the warmth and snugness of the interior. But there was one fact which weighed somewhat heavily on the minds of every one. A relief steamer was expected before the winter set in, and it had not arrived. There was still an abundant supply of food, and no alarm was felt on that score; but the novelty of the surroundings having worn off, the prospect of the long, weary stretch of darkness had a depressing influence. It, however, passed without any untoward incident, and with the return of the sun field work was resumed. The most notable journey was that of Lieutenant Lockwood and his companion on the "farthest North" trip, Sergeant Brainard, who, in one month, covered 437 miles of the hitherto unexplored interior parts of Grinnel Land, discovering numerous lakes and glaciers. One of the latter was of particular interest by reason of the vari-coloured face it presented. The top layer, which overhung slightly, was of dull opaque white, that immediately beneath it ranging in colour from pale green to a clear blue, while the next and thickest layer was of a rich chocolate colour, due to the soil which had been frozen in with the water. The lowest streak was similar to the topmost, dull opaque white.

In their absence the remainder of the explorers were busily engaged in establishing food depÔts to the south, along the route they would be compelled to take in the event of a retreat being necessary. The non-arrival of the relief steamer prior to the winter gave rise to some speculation whether it would arrive in the spring, and a plan was arranged for a retreat to the south being carried out, if no relief ship came, in the boats the expedition possessed. These consisted of a steam launch 27 feet long, an iceboat which had been abandoned by Lieutenant Beaumont in 1876, and two whale-boats. A depÔt of forty days' full rations was placed at Cape Baird and another of twenty days' rations at Cape Collinson, as soon as the ice was open enough to allow the launch to proceed. Then when it had returned and all the survey parties were in, a decision was come to that if no steamer arrived by July 31 the retreat would be commenced.

July passed and August arrived, but there were no signs of the approach of any relief steamer, and, on August 9, with the boats loaded with the records of the work done and as much food as could be stored in them, the party bade farewell to Fort Conger and started on their memorable journey. The lateness of the season made navigation extremely difficult for such small craft, and they were frequently impeded by ice which would have offered no obstacle to a big steamer. They had scarcely got out of sight of the house where they had passed the two long dark winters before they were so beset with loose ice that progress was almost impossible. Then new ice formed round them, and they were hard and fast. The fact that they only carried a limited supply of fuel made their position more serious, and when, on August 18, a temporary breaking in the floes enabled them to move forward, there was a general rejoicing. But it was soon checked on discovering that they were forced inside of a huge mass of ice over fifty feet high and extending right up to the solid floe. It was impossible to turn back and fight through the drifting ice behind them, and the only hope of escape seemed to be to steam on in case there might be a channel through the floe ahead.

As they passed along the great wall of ice they were amazed at seeing a crevice run into it. Arriving opposite to it, they found that it was a cleavage which went right through the mass, and they turned into it. The enormous berg had grounded and had split asunder, leaving a passage a hundred yards long and barely twelve feet wide, the sides of which were sheer fifty feet high on either hand. Such a formation was unique, even in the Arctic regions, and the steaming through it was an adventure without a parallel.

It led them into fairly open water, and they were able to push on into Rawlings Bay before they were again beset. This time it was not the new ice but the closing in of the floes that caught them. So quickly did the masses close in that the boats were caught and "nipped" before anything could be done to save them. The men at once scrambled out on to the ice, striving to lift the lighter boats on to the floe and unloading the provisions from the others as fast as they could, lest the crack should open again and everything be lost. The nip, however, had not been so severe as to endanger the floating capacity of the boats, but the ice had closed too firmly to allow of any hopes of their being able to force their way through. A strong wind from the north, in spite of the snow and cold it would have brought, would have been welcome; but the days were provokingly calm, and the ice only moved south at its ordinary slow rate. By August 26 they had travelled 300 miles from Fort Conger and were within fifty miles of Cape Sabine, a headland where there was a large supply of stores left by Sir George Nares in 1876. If they were able to reach there before the winter night set in, there was some chance of their existing through the dreary period which, it was now evident, they were doomed to pass in that locality. And yet the spirits of the party were as bright as though a steamer were within sight of them. One of them, in his diary, wrote: "Adversity in any form would fail, I think, to dampen the spirits of the men. Our situation is desperate. Any moment the ice may crumble beneath our feet and the sea swallow up the entire party. Still, while exercising on the ice this evening, the men danced and sang as merrily as they would have done in their own homes. They are irrepressible in the face of all this uncertainty and perhaps starvation."

The end of the month found them still beset, and with barely fifty days' rations. The opinion was now divided as to the best course to adopt, whether to remain in the boats and wait on the off-chance of their drifting near Cape Sabine, or to take to the sledges and push on over the rough ice to the shore. They had been drifting for thirty miles, and only twenty now lay between them and the cape with its store of provisions. The leader was averse to leaving the boats at once, and the days dragged on until, on September 10, it was evident that the sledge journey would have to be undertaken if the shore was to be reached and a camp formed before the darkness set in.

Unfortunately when they did abandon the boats the weather changed, and a cold wind with driving snow came to make their struggle still more difficult. They tried at first to drag two of the boats with them, but one soon had to be abandoned and the party struggled on. Their sleeping-bags froze and filled with drifting snow so that they were able to obtain but little rest when they halted, and when they were moving they were always cold and miserable. Until September 28 they were struggling over the rough, difficult ice, and then their trials were further increased. They were nearing the shore, and the force of the tide, backed up by the pressure of the ice grinding along before the wind, caused the floe to crack and break up. Only by the most persistent energy and exertion were they able to get their stores and themselves on shore, though still some distance from Cape Sabine.

They had now travelled 500 miles since they left Fort Conger, and not only were the men considerably exhausted by their recent struggle, but winter was setting in very rapidly with constant and heavy storms. It was therefore decided to form a camp where they were, while the snow had not frozen too hard for them to get some stones for a shelter. They had been compelled, on their journey over the ice, to abandon everything in the way of covering save their sleeping-bags, and unless they built a hut of some description the rigour of the winter would inevitably be fatal to all.

Such stones as could be found were collected and built into a low wall forming a square of about sixteen feet. The stones were difficult to obtain, and the wall could only be made three feet high. An opening was left in one of the sides of the square and a passage way constructed, so that the entrance to the interior did not open directly on to the frozen exterior. Across the top of the walls the boat they had dragged with them over the ice was laid keel uppermost, the oars being laid under it so as to maintain it in position, the open spaces between the sides of the boat and the walls being covered with such canvas as they had. Around the stone walls and over the top, snow was piled, and their living house was complete. It sheltered them from the wind and from the extreme bitterness of the cold, but beyond that nothing could be claimed for it. Every one had to enter it on hands and knees, and, once inside, no one could stand up, while the taller men of the party were only able to sit up in the middle of the hut where the boat made the roof slightly higher.

The men arranged their sleeping-bags against the walls with the feet towards the middle of the floor, and when they had crept in through the narrow entrance, they groped their way into the bags. Then, half lying and half sitting, with their shoulders against the stones behind them, they made themselves as comfortable as they could during the long period of darkness. They divided themselves into messes for the purpose of feeding, and two cooks prepared the food, an operation that was always difficult and unpleasant. It had, of necessity, to be carried on inside the hut, and when the two men were kneeling in a cramped-up position over the make-shift for a stove in the middle of the floor, there was no room for any one else to stretch his legs. Every one had to huddle up as closely as possible, and as all the smoke from the stove had to find its way out of the hut the best way it could, the atmosphere during cooking time was far from refreshing. The heat from the stove also thawed the ground immediately under it, and the snow on the canvas over it, with the result that the cooking of every meal meant a thorough wetting as well as a choking for the cooks.

As soon as the hut was finished, a small party pushed on towards Cape Sabine in order to locate the provisions stored there. On October 9 they returned with the news that despatches had been found, stating the Proteus had foundered in the ice on July 24 just off the cape, and that the crew and relief party had started to the south so as to meet the second relief steamer Yantic, or a Swedish steamer which was known to be in the locality, and send on help to the Greely expedition.

The little party also discovered some provisions and the whale-boat, previously abandoned on the ice, which had drifted ashore near the cape. This was subsequently used as firewood when all other fuel was exhausted.

The news of the disaster to the Proteus was a serious blow to the expedition, as it meant that no help would be able to reach them until the following spring at the earliest, and, in the meantime, they would be compelled to exist as best they could upon their meagre stock of provisions. The relief party who had visited the cape on their way from the wreck of the Proteus had very considerably reduced the stores which the Greely party counted on finding, and when they obtained the remnants which were left, part of the bread was found to be a mass of green slimy mildew. The men had now been on reduced rations for many days, and so hungry were the members of the band sent to convey the stores from Cape Sabine to the hut that when the green mouldy stuff was thrown out by the officer in charge, the men flung themselves on to it and devoured it despite all he could do to persuade them from such a course.

The question of the strictest economy in the management of the food supplies was now a matter of life or death, and very seriously the leaders debated it. On October 26 the sun sank beneath the horizon, and in the ensuing darkness, which lasted for 110 days, there would be no chance of obtaining any game. A few blue foxes had been killed since the camp was formed, and half the number were set aside for subsequent consumption, those consumed at once being devoured to the bones, every part being put into the stew.

Meagre as the rations were, it was necessary to reduce them still further if the food was to last until the spring. By a further reduction it was calculated that the party could exist until March 1, when the available supplies would amount to ten days' rations. But no relief could possibly reach them until a couple of months later than that, and how were they to live after March 10, when the last crumb of their supplies had been consumed?

There was only one course open for them, and that was explained by the leader. On November 1, the allowance for each man would be fourteen ounces, given out every twenty-four hours, and on March 1, as soon as there was light, they would take their remaining ten days' supply and set out across the frozen straits in the forlorn hope of reaching an outlying camp of Etah Eskimo on the Greenland coast.

The terrible prospect of such a scheme to men situated as they were can scarcely be imagined. For over a month they had already been slowly starving on an amount of food for daily consumption which an ordinary man could comfortably eat at one meal, and now that amount was to be decreased to less than a pound of food a day and in a climate where the cold was so intense that water could not be kept from freezing inside the hut excepting it was over the stove. For four months they would have to face that rigid diet, suffering the pangs of starvation constantly, almost entirely in the dark, and always huddled up in the sleeping-bags against the walls of their low-roofed hut. Yet they accepted the scheme without a murmur.

Seldom have men shown themselves so absolutely courageous, for at the best it was merely slow starvation so as to be able to make an almost hopeless dash for freedom and food in four months' time. The suffering during those four months was terrible. Men, as soon as they got hold of their day's rations, were tempted to devour them at once, and so still for a time the ceaseless gnawing of their hunger; but to do so meant that in an hour's time the pain would be back again with no means of staying it until twenty-three hours had passed. Calmly and bravely they faced the ordeal, dividing their scanty store into regular meals, and when, by an accident one of them upset his can, spilling his few mouthfuls of tea on the ground, the others contributed from their share so that he should not go entirely without. Nothing could exceed the touching fidelity which characterised their bearings, one to the other, during this period of unexampled suffering.

At Cape Isabella, a stock of 140 lbs. of meat was known to have been left by Sir George Nares, and a party of four set out in the hopes of securing it. For a week before they started they were allowed an extra ration in order to strengthen them for the trial of a journey in the dark over rough ice and with the temperature at 34° below zero. The extra ration consisted of two ounces a day.

For five days they battled their way through the darkness against a heavy wind laden with snow, and at last found the place where the food was. Piling it on their sledge, they turned back home again, and for fourteen hours laboured with it, only consuming a little warm tea during that time, for they had no means of heating more. One of the four was badly bitten by the frost, and was soon so stricken that he could not even stagger along. A piercing wind was blowing, and to save their comrade's life, the others abandoned the sledge and tried to support him. Soon two of them became exhausted, and the remaining one, Sergeant Rice, pushed on alone to the camp in order to bring help. For sixteen hours he was fighting his way over the twenty-five miles that lay between him and the hut. When he arrived there his lips were too frozen for him to be able to speak at once.

Weary and weak as the whole party was, eight of the strongest at once started off in rescue. When they picked the other three up, they found them lying under the sleeping-bag with the sick man between them, and the bag frozen so hard over them that it had to be cut open before they could be got out. Then they resumed their way to the camp, which they reached after forty-four hours' absence, in which time they had covered forty miles.

The frost-bitten man, Elison, was almost dead, his face, feet, and hands being absolutely frozen, but so determined were they all to survive as long as possible that he was tended with all the care they could command. He was kept alive in spite of his sufferings, which, during the first week after his rescue, were so severe that he daily called on his comrades to end his misery.

Meanwhile the memory of the abandoned sledge laden with meat was constantly in the minds of the starving men, whose hunger was now so great that in the darkness after the lamp was put out—economy compelled them to use it only for cooking—men crept to the stove and devoured any rancid fat left in the lamp. But still discipline held them together, and they made no mention of their sufferings to one another. The success of the journey across the ice on March 1 was what they looked forward to, and with the arrival of that date they believed their sufferings would be over.

On January 18 the first one of the party to die passed away, really of starvation, although the men, to keep the ugly word away from their minds, accepted the doctor's statement that it was of an effusion of water at the heart that the man had died. His end made a deep impression on the gallant little band, all the same, and by the beginning of February several more men were in a critical condition, including Lieutenant Lockwood, who refused to accept an extra ration of two ounces a day from the diminished stores.

Sergeant Rice, accompanied by the Eskimo Jens, made a plucky effort to reach Littleton Island, where an outlying camp of Eskimo might be found; but Jens could not stand the journey, and, five days after starting, they returned. Every one was now impressed with the necessity of husbanding their energies for the great effort to be made on the first day of March, and as February slowly passed away, the emaciated creatures grew enthusiastic as they sought to cheer one another up by detailing the tremendous feasts they would have when they returned to civilisation. At length the first of March dawned, and the brave hearts, which had kept up so long against starvation and despair, shrank before the terrible blow they received. The ice had broken, and open water rolled where they had planned to cross on the ice. Nothing was said, for the courage of the men was only equalled by their consideration for one another, but the effect of the great disappointment sank deep into the minds of many.

The food remaining was eked out through the month with the aid of some blue foxes and a ptarmigan, which were eaten to the bones, and April found them with only a few days even of the starvation rations remaining. Several of the men were so weak that they could barely turn over in their sleeping-bags. The Eskimo Frederick was found dead in his bag, and another of the little party followed the next day. Then Sergeants Rice and Fredericks insisted on making an effort to reach the meat abandoned when Elison was frost-bitten. It is difficult to understand why the effort had not been made before; but many errors of judgment are conspicuous after a campaign which are not so apparent in the moment of struggle.

Now that it was made it failed, through the cold freezing wind penetrating the starved bodies of the two men. Rice, who throughout the terrible ordeal of their captivity had never spared himself, was the first to feel it. A strong wind was blowing, bringing down heavy snow squalls. Suddenly Rice began to talk wildly and then staggered. Fredericks grasped him by the arm and tried to keep him up, but the cold and starvation had too tight a hold upon their victim. He vainly endeavoured to pull himself together, but only for a moment; then he sank down on the snow, babbling about the feast he was going to enjoy.

His comrade tried to restore him by giving him some of the stimulants they had with them, and did not hesitate to strip off his own fur coat to lay upon the other, sitting the while, holding his hands, and exposed to all the biting fury of the Arctic wind, in his shirt sleeves. But everything was useless; Rice was too worn out and too weak to fight further, and died as he faintly talked of the food he fancied he was eating.

The shock to Fredericks was almost overwhelming, for he was miles away from the camp, chilled to the bone, and with only a little coffee and spirits of ammonia to revive his own drooping vitality. Yet he would not leave his dead comrade until he had reverently laid him in a shallow resting-place in the snow, though it almost cost him his life to pay this last tribute.

When he at last managed to reach the camp with his sad tidings he was almost gone, and the news he brought plunged every one into the lowest depths of sorrow, for Rice had always been one of the bravest and best of the party. Those who were able to do so, attended to Fredericks and revived him.

To those who were weakest the end of Rice was a fatal blow, and the next day or so saw three or four pass away, one of whom was the intrepid Lockwood. A very few more days and all would have gone but for a gleam of good fortune. A young bear was killed, and the 400 pounds of meat obtained from it was the salvation of the survivors.

Several seals were seen in the straits and a few walrus, and all who could still handle a gun were daily striving to obtain fresh supplies for the larder. Eskimo Jens, who hunted assiduously, succeeded in killing a small seal; but in a chase after another his kayak was injured in the ice and he was drowned.

After his death only misfortune attended the hunting, and, failing to replenish their stock of game, they were reduced to such a terrible plight that they had only the thick skin of the seal on which to subsist. Even this fare was carefully divided and measured out, so that life might be maintained as long as possible in case a relief vessel came. One day it was found that somebody was stealing. All the party was assembled, but no one would admit the theft. It was decided that the thief should be shot if discovered. One man, being suspected, was watched. He was caught and executed.

A fortnight later, the last few square inches of the seal's skin was gone, and the men, now little more than living skeletons, lay in their sleeping-bags looking at one another with hollow eyes, wondering, perhaps, who would be the last to go, when a steamer's whistle sounded over the straits.

At first they dared not trust their ears. It must have been a gull crying, or a bear, they said, and the only man with strength enough to crawl crept out to see. The others lay where they were, straining their ears to catch again the sound which had so moved them, but the minutes passed on in silence. The man who had gone out did not come back, and their hopes fell. No one spoke, for it was too plain they had been deceived, and a profound silence reigned. Then they heard a great shouting, and before their minds could understand how it was done, they were surrounded by men of their own race, who were administering restoratives as quickly as they dared.

The Thetis, commanded by Captain Schley, of the United States Navy, had reached them, and so, on June 23, 1884, the survivors of the Greely expedition were saved.