now were planned, and while they were building, the hunters of
the party scoured the neighboring ice-floes and pools for game--foxes,
ptarmigan, and seals. There were no mistaken ideas concerning their deadly
peril. Every man knew that if game failed, or if the provisions they hoped
had been cached by the relief expeditions somewhere in the vicinity, could
not be found, they might never leave that spot alive. Day by day the size
of the rations was reduced. October 2 enough for thirty-five days
remained, and at the request of the men, Greely so changed the ration as
to provide for forty-five days. October 5 Lieutenant Lockwood noted in his
diary:

"We have now three chances for our lives: First, finding American cache
sufficient at Sabine or at Isabella; second, of crossing the straits when
our present ration is gone; third, of shooting sufficient seal and walrus
near by here to last during the winter."

How delusive the first chance proved we shall see later. The second was
impractical, for the current carried the ice through the strait so fast,
that any party trying to cross the floe, would have been carried south to
where the strait widened out into Baffin's Bay before they could possibly
pass the twenty-five miles which separated Cape Sabine from Littleton
Island. Moreover, there was no considerable cache at the latter point, as
Greely thought. As for the hunting, it proved a desperate chance, though
it did save the lives of such of the party as were rescued. All feathered
game took flight for the milder regions of the south when the night set
in. The walrus which the hunters shot--two, Greely said, would have
supplied food for all winter--and the seal sunk in almost every instance
before the game could be secured.

The first, and most hopeful chance, was the discovery of cached provisions
at Cape Sabine. To put this to the test, Rice, the photographer, who,
though a civilian, proved to be one of the most determined and efficient
men in the party, had already started for Sabine with Jens, the Esquimau.
October 9 they returned, bringing the record of the sinking of the
"Proteus," and the intelligence that there were about 1300 rations at, or
near Cape Sabine. The record left at Cape Sabine by Garlington, the
commander of the "Proteus" expedition, and which Rice brought back to the
camp, read in part: "Depot landed ... 500 rations of bread, tea, and a lot
of canned goods. Cache of 250 rations left by the English exped