The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-07
At Sea On an Ice Cake.

Evelyn Buss, one of the victims car
ried out on the ice off Bluff City on
the Goth instant, has kindly consented
to give her impressions of the terrible
experience for the Gold Digger. She
is a frail little woman, who looks In
capable of enduring such privations
and hardships as she was called upon
to endure, but like the rest of the
party she faced the danger with the
utmost GOODNESS and courage
1T was four nights before Christmas
eve that AudreN Bell, Charles Hagelin,
Eric Johnson and myself rounded the
point at Bluff City and found open
water barring the trail Miss Bell and
1 were tied to the sleds, for the way
was rough, and we did not pay mucn
attention to the water, the men telling
US there was often a crack at that
point Eric Johnson jumped across
and ran up town for ropes and then
we realized that we were gradually
drifting away from the shore. People
| in Nome seem to think that we were
carried away on a little patch of ice,
but our floating prison was many miles
| in extent.
| AS the crack grew wider Eric john
son and w. f. Austin, the man he had
asked to assist at Bluff City, rowed
| out to us in a boat. They succeeded
| in scrambling on the ice, but Austin
was drenched, for it was a wild and
stormy night. We had a robe and
! two pieces of canvas, and we wrapped
| him in one of the sleds, and let the
dogs lie around him to keep him from
| freezing. He had no hat and his niue
! lucs were wet through, SO 1 opened my
| trunk and got out an eiderdown mat
| inee for his head and tore up a fan
+, mel skirt for his feet; the rest of the
| things in the trunk we used to keep
| ourselves warm.
Every one in the party seemed
anxious to pretend that there was no
danger, the boys made light of every
| thing, and Mr.. Austin was full of fun.
Il did not realize till the next morning
that we might drift out on the ice till
we We're starved or frozen. and then
/ i did not see any, use making a fuss
| about it.
tThat day we kept travelling to keep
/; land in sight. as the position OF the
! ice was continually shifting. All the
/ time we We're af1oat we must have gone
| over twenty or thirty miles l had
i been Ill and could not walk fast
enough to keep warm SO they let me
| lie in one of the sleds with dogs
around me- Miss Bell, Johnson and
/ Hagelin kept walking all the time to
| prevent them from freezing. AS. the
! days went on they sometimes fell
asleep on their feet.
/ ''All our provisions consisted of some
! fish for dog feed, and a little corn
meal, but we had no salt. On the sec
| ond day when we began to travel a
strange thing happened, We found
some wood that Austin had thrown
| from his sled few days before. With
| this the boys were able to light a fire
and cook, but it was not till the third
| day out that / could eat a little corn
meal mush, and it revived me wonder
fully.
/ I'VE saw a bonfire on the coast the
third night. one of those. we afterward
| heard, that We're lighted as signals to
US. The fourth night it showed, and
! we We're soaked through. If we had
| been forced to stay on the ice another
night we should probably have frozen,
! for we We're very wet and exhausted.
4 But on the morning of the fourth
/ flsE our ice field drifted in shore, and
/ we > ere only separated from the beach
! By miles of rubber ice. This was
our &c chance, and we determined to
risk Il The sleds We're put side by
side, Il with rush we started, the
ice crat s1i7g and breaking all the way.
The fourteen dogs dashed on, urged by
| the men. / did not dare to look, but
covered tsy head, expecting every mo-
ment to go through. till some one
called out we are on the beachp and
then threw off the wrap and saw one
OF the boys break down and sob with
| joy. and Mr.. Chisman, the road house
keeper at Chookook, with an Indian.
was Standing on the shore Welcoming
us. Nome Gold Digger.