The officers (with the exception of Wardour, who stood apart in
sullen silence) all agreed, so far.

The captain went on.

"It is therefore urgently necessary that we should make another,
and probably a last, effort to extricate ourselves. The winter is
not far off, game is getting scarcer and scarcer, our stock of
provisions is running low, and the sick--especially, I am sorry
to say, the sick in the _Wanderer_'s hut--are increasing in
number day by day. We must look to our own lives, and to the
lives of those who are dependent on us; and we have no time to
lose."

The officers echoed the words cheerfully.

"Right! right! No time to lose."

Captain Helding resumed:

"The plan proposed is, that a detachment of the able-bodied
officers and men among us should set forth this very day, and
make another effort to reach the nearest inhabited settlements,
from which help and provisions may be dispatched to those who
remain here. The new direction to be taken, and the various
precautions to be adopted, are all drawn out ready. The only
question now before us is, Who is to stop here, and who is to
undertake the journey?"