The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-11-19

~ the waist.
The afternoon was superlatively abom-
Unable. A fog oamo down upon us and
then a drizzlng rain. It would be impos-
, sible TO describe the discomfort OF our sur
roundings during tAe remainder of the
day. The sea wet us 20 our middles, the
rain completed the job 20 the top Of our
heads, and where the two together left q
dry thread the perspiration produced by
our hard work came to the rescue. We
had hoped 10 mako the other sido OF the
bay I'm order TO reach driftwopd and be
able 10 ENJOY the luxury OF "a fire, but per
ceived that IL would be impossible, and
about @ in the evening sent Captain Pc
dersen aud a crew ahead with the Parry
- pick out a safe floo upon which 70 make
camp.
Soaked to the skin.
When within 40 feet of the spot which
Captain Pedersen had selected for this
purpose Mr.. Alme, the meteorologist OF
our expedition, leaped across tidal crack,
as he had leaped hundreds Of times during
the past few days, and fell in faint upon
a small piece Of ice in the middle OF tho
channel Boervig rushed 10 his assistance,
and as soon as the boat had been mado
cafe the men picked up their injured com
panion and carried him 10 the camp place
DIR Mohun, who was back with the Lock
wood, was sent for at once, and on exami-
nation he found Almo suffering with a
badly sprained ankle and "a broken bone in
his foot. "I IL Is worse injury than q
broken leg Of the simple sort, said DR..
Mohan, but we took care that'the patient
should not learn Of the extent OF his hurt
The poor fellow, on recovering from hts
faint, greatly felt the effects OF the tire
mendous shock TO his nervous system. and
being unable To think very clearly In bis
condition it seemed to him that We
should be compelled to leave him 10 his
fate out here IN the desert OF ice Ii did
not take us long 20 Peassure him on this
score and TO promise him that no should
have every care which our resources could
command, even at the expense OF much
undesired delay.
A more miserable dozen men than wa
this Sunday evening it would be difficult
TO imagine The rain continued, and a
smart northerly wind came blowing from
OF untold miles Of icelclds. In our soaked
condition, and many Of the men with
nothing dry 20 put on there was only one
warm place in the camp, and that snugly
ensconced within the reinskin bags, which,
heaven be praised, were reasonably dry,
and TO crawl into these bags as quickly as
possible and,to romain there as long as
the law would allow was the confessed
ambition of ambitions with every one of
us. Under the circumstances we had a
good supper, and within ten minutes every
one was wrapped in reinskin, pulling at
his good old pipe and thinking that life
in the arctics, water soaked, cold, hungry,
weary, is not without its oompensatiUns,
after ALL
Something had come into our midst
which appeared TO Tighten all our burdens.
1t had reached the heart OF every man In
the party. This something was the touch
of nature, the sight of Metoorologist Alme,
the glan5 of our crew and a man exceed
ingly popular with all for his frank, man
ly qualities, lying on bed OF suffering,
from which he might not be able TO get up
for weeks 10 come. We hovered about
him, glad of the chance 10 be of the sim.
plest service TO him, and when he had been
made quite comfortable by DR.. Mohun and
slowed away I'm his warm bag our hearts
were so full that we wanted TO be good 20
all our comrades. Though our men are
nearly always courteous and self sacritic-
ing, IL now seemed az If they could not dc
enough for one another One insists upon
giving his dry boots TO his friend; another
is eager TO sacrifice his last pair of dry
stockings; a third lends out all his remain
ing stock of tobacco. Every one wanted
to wait upon every other one at supper
and we spoke with words full of softnoss
and affection. Each Of us forgot himself
and his own comfort and seemed to think
only of how he could do something for
one of his comrades. Good natured and
harmonious as we arc, we have occasional
ly, as in all we'll regulated families, our
little sharp words and small misundor-
standings. Plodding through the rain,
wading the water, pulling till our backs
ached, wearing wet mittens only TO be.
numb fingers that We're formerly merely
cold, looking for good roads where none
existed, had made some of us little testy
and quick and lcausod us To utter words
which had better been suppressed, but
now by tacit consent all these things were
forgotten. We were all brothers who had
never known a difference of opinion OF
thought a harsh thought of each other A
dozen times probably we inquired of Enock
Hovda IL he had not been hurt when his
legs were caught under the boat few
minutes after Mr.. Alme received his hurt,
and we were almost sorry he had not been
scratched-just n little-so that we could
coddle him and pour out our sympathy
upon him.
This touch Of nature this warming up
Of hearts that do not beat any faster when
danger threatens, made our brown tents
against which the rain was beating seem
Hike Attie palaces istty- istt- ~ ,~-rs tire mr.
within them, with a line full Of wet cloth.
ing from stem to stern Of each boat, damn
g and olammy as were some OF the sleeping
bags, persistent in its refusal TO burn az
was some of the smoking tobacco, and
with all of US harassod by the thought
that In the morning there would be more
fog, rain and cold, more wading and
plunging and pulling and with only wet
boots and clothing to pull on--notwith
standing all these discouragements, IL Of
us had been SO t6nched by the sad accident
OF the twelfth that we went To sleep al
most happy.
Sorry as was for the men who had 70
keep watch, IL was absolutely necessary
that some one should stand guard, for our
position was anything but safe one
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