In this crucible of fact the famous spoon melted. So far as Captain
Barry and his clews were concerned, we had come on a fool's errand.




CHAPTER III.

OUR DOGS.


There being no cairn, as a matter of course there was no guide to
conduct us to it; but instead of returning to New York from Camp Daly,
as he would have been justified in doing, Lieutenant Schwatka
determined to make the summer search in King William Land, in order to
find the records, if possible; or, at any rate to so conduct the search
as to make it final and conclusive of the Franklin expedition.
Lieutenant Schwatka was much impressed with the statements made by
Nutargeark, especially as this native's intelligence and veracity were
tested by his pointing out correctly upon the map the location of
cairns which he had seen, including one at Cape Herschel, built by
Dease and Simpson in 1839, and the spot where McClintock saw a boat
with skeletons. Both Hall and McClintock account for the fact of so few
bodies being found, by the presumption that Captain Crozier and his men
followed the shore ice down, and, dying there, fell through into the
water when the ice melted during the summer. Nutargeark, however, said
that there were plenty of bodies lying upon the ground on King William
Land, which would be invisible in winter from being covered with snow.
To verify these statements was the purpose of our journey.