how embarrassing it would be to go back to the
tribe empty-handed, after all that had been said, to be ridiculed and
reproached. It would never do.

Our conversation was continued till quite late, when we ranged
ourselves, hungry and weary, for another night. For hours I was unable
to sleep. The uncertainties of my situation oppressed me, and I lay
restless, with anxiety inexpressible, inconceivable by those whom
Providence has preserved from similar straits. It was a season of deep,
suppressed, silent misery, in which the heart found no relief but in the
mute supplication to Him who was alone able to deliver. Towards morning,
exhausted with the intensity of emotion acting on an enfeebled body, I
slept a little, and woke at early dawn, to a fresh consciousness of my
critical position.

The weather had been fair during the night, but there were now
indications of another snow-storm. I waited long and impatiently for my
companions to awake, and at last started off in quest of fuel, on
returning with which they bestirred themselves and started a fire, which
warmed our half-benumbed limbs. There lay the little island, beautiful
to eyes that longed, like mine, for a habitation of sympathizing men,
about a mile and a half distant. It almost seemed to recede while I
gazed, so low had my hopes sunken under the pressure of disappointment
and bitter uncertainty. A violent snow-storm soon setting in, it was
hidden from view; everything seemed to be against me. It slackened and
partially cleared up; then came another gust, filling the air and
shutting out the prospect.

In this way it continued till past noon; at intervals, as the sky
lighted up, I took a firebrand and set fire to the bushes on the beach,
and then hoisted the flag again, walking wearily to and fro till the
storm ceased and the sky became clear. The chief concealed himself in a
clump of bushes, and sat watching with cat-like vigilance the movements
of the islanders. After some time he said a boat was coming; I scarcely
durst look in the direction indicated, lest I should experience a fresh
disappointment; but I did look, and saw, to my great joy, a boat
launched, with four or five men on board, and pushing off the shore. On
they came; the chief reported his discovery, and the rest of the Indians
came to the beach, where I was still walking backward and forward. The
boat approached, not directly off where I was, but an eighth of a mile,
perhaps, to the windward,