meal was near at hand,
the dogs broke into a run, and with much howling and jumping swung
around the point and up to the buildings.

XXIII. OVER THE ICE

With the body at the post, it was my intention to hire dog teams, and,
accompanied by George, start with it at once for home, travelling up
Hamilton Inlet to the ocean, and then down along the coast to Battle
Harbour, or some port farther south, where we might happen on a ship
that would take us away from the land where we had suffered so much.
More than three weeks elapsed, however, before we could get away from
the Northwest River. It was about 325 miles over the ice to Battle
Harbour, and Mackenzie and the others continued to argue against the
feasibility of my plan. For a time it did seem as if it would be
impossible to carry it out. First of all, I had trouble with Hubbard's
coffin. When we received the body, the plain spruce box that had been
made for it was found not to be deep enough. I sent over a request to
James Greenan, the carpenter at Kenemish, that another one be made as
speedily as possible. He replied that the last board they had on hand
had been used in making a coffin for poor Dr. Hardy, but said that if I
would return to him the coffin we had, he believed he could raise the
sides to the requisite height. Mackenzie immediately despatched Mark
with the dogs and komatik to carry the coffin to Kenemish, and on April
4th it was returned with the necessary alterations. The body meanwhile
had lain wrapped in the blankets and tarpaulin in a storehouse where
the temperature practically was as low as it was out of doors. Now we
placed it in the box with salt as a preservative, and everything was
ready for our long journey.

Then arose the question as to where I could get dogs. Two teams were
needed, one for the body and one for our baggage. Not a dog owner
could I find who would undertake the task. I sent imploring messages
for twenty-five miles around, but all to no purpose. They would not
even undertake the ninety-mile journey to Rigolet. Some, I knew, did
not like the idea of travelling with a corpse, and others, like Tom
Blake, did not have enough dogs to haul our loads. In despair I went
to Monsieur Duclos on April 19th and urged him to lend me his team to
take us as far as Rigolet, telling him that Mackenzie was willing to
let us have his team for the trip to Rigolet, but that another was
needed. The French post dogs had just retur