-loads of rations that had been taken there the previous
November. Got the loads and pushed south to Cape Aldrich, which is a
point on the promontory of Cape Columbia. From Cape Aldrich the
Commander intends to attack the sea-ice.

After unloading the supplies on the point, we came back to camp at Cape
Columbia. Shortly afterwards Captain Bartlett came into camp from his
musk-ox-hunt around Parr Bay. He had not shot a thing and was very tired
and discouraged, but I think he was glad to see me. He was so hungry
that I gave him all the stew, which he swallowed whole.

MacMillan and his party showed up about an hour after the Captain, and
very shortly after George Borup came driving in, like "Ann Eliza
Johnson, a swingin' down the line." I helped Mr. Borup build his igloo,
for which he was grateful. He is a plucky young fellow and is always
cheerful. He told us that Professor Marvin, according to the schedule,
had left the ship on the 20th, and the Commander on the 21st, so they
must be well on the way.

While waiting in this camp for the Commander and Professor Marvin to
arrive, we had plenty of work; re-adjusting the sledge-loads and also
building snow-houses and banking them with blocks of snow, for the wind
had eroded one end of my igloo and completely razed it to the level of
the ground, and a more solidly constructed igloo was necessary to
withstand the fury of the gale.

We kept a fire going in one igloo and dried our mittens and kamiks.
Though the tumpa, tumpa, plunk of the banjo was not heard, and our
camp-fires were not scenes of revelry and joy, I frequently did the
double-shuffle and an Old Virginia break-down, to keep my blood
circulating.

The hours preceding our advance from Cape Columbia were pleasantly
spent, though we lost no time in literary debates. There were a few
books along.

Out on the ice of the Polar ocean, as far as reading matter went, I
think Dr. Goodsell had a very small set of Shakespeare, and I know that
I had a Holy Bible. The others who went out on the ice may have had
reading matter with them, but they did not read it out loud, and so I
am not in a position to say what their literary tastes were.

Even on shipboard, we had no pigskin library or five-foot shelf of
sleep-producers, but each member had some favorite books in his cabin,
and they helped to form a circulating library.

* * * * *

While we waited here, we had time to appreciate the magn