of flour and corn meal. This, with a small piece of pork, six pounds
of pemmican, tea and a bit of tobacco was all that we had left in the
way of provisions. The Eskimos had eaten everything that they had
brought, and it now devolved upon us to feed them also from our meager
store, which at the start only provided for Easton and me for ten
days, as that had been considered more than ample time for the
journey. I limited the rations at each meal to a half of one of my
cakes for each man. Potokomik agreed with me that this was a wise and
necessary restriction and protected me in it. Kumuk thought
differently, and he was seen to filch once or twice, but a close watch
was kept upon him.

With infinite labor we hauled the _Explorer_ above the high-tide
level, out of reach of the ice that would soon pile in a massive
barricade of huge blocks upon the shore, that she might be safe until
recovered the following spring. Then we packed in the boat's prow our
tent and all paraphernalia that was not absolutely necessary for the
sustenance of life, made each man a pack of his blankets, food and
necessaries, and began our perilous foot march toward Whale River. I
clung to all the records of the expedition, my camera, photographic
films and things of that sort, though Potokomik advised their
abandonment.

At low tide, when the rocks were left nearly uncovered, we forded from
the island to the mainland. It was dark when we reached it, and for
three hours after dark, bending under our packs, walking in Indian
file, we pushed on in silence through the knee-deep snow upon which
the moon, half hidden by flying clouds, cast a weird ghostlike light.
Finally the Eskimos stopped in a gully by a little patch of spruce
brush four or five feet high, and while Iksialook foraged for handfuls