Where the single remaining pole supported the
tent there was a clear space of perhaps six feet, just enough for a man
to stand upright, but around it the canvas was lying on the ground. The
bag, from which Greely had hardly moved for a month, was found under the
canvas, and by the united efforts of the three men the tent was partly
raised.

Meanwhile, the "Bear" had arrived and Lowe had gone off in the cutter,
taking with him Sergeant Long. Long was too weak to get on board without
assistance, and was lifted over the side by some of the crew and taken
to a chair in the wardroom. In reply to questions about the party and
their condition, Long, in a husky voice, told his story: that all were
dead except Greely and five others, who were on shore in "sore
distress--sore distress;" that they had had a hard winter, and "the
wonder was how in God's name they had pulled through." No words can
describe the pathos of this man's broken and enfeebled utterance as he
said, over and over, "a hard winter--a hard winter;" and the officers
who were gathered about him in the wardroom felt an emotion which most
of them were at little pains to conceal. The first sign of the relief
expedition which had reached the camp was the sound from the steam
whistle of the "Thetis," recalling the shore parties at Payer Harbor.
Lieutenant Greely, lying on the ground in his tent, had heard it, as it
was borne faintly over the neck of land, but the others had not noticed
it in the roaring wind, and when he told them he had heard a steamer's
whistle, they thought it only the impression of his disturbed
imagination. Long crawled out of the tent and, bracing himself against
the wind, struggled up to the ridge; but nothing could be seen but the
rocky coast, and the ice-foot, and the chopping sea with the pack
stretching off in the distance. It was a bitter disappointment. Long
went back disheartened, but after waiting uneasily awhile longer, he
mounted the ridge a second time. Still there was nothing to be seen but
the same hopeless prospect, and he was about to return again when the
cutter came into view around the point above. After all these months of
waiting it was hard to believe that he was not dreaming, but when he
saw the coxswain wave the familiar flag, he knew that relief had come at
last.

[The conclusion of the story is longer than we have space to
give. It will suffice to say that the survivors were
gradually brought back to lif