stefansson-wrangel-09-32-018v

242 THE ADVENTURE OF WRANGEL ISLAND

ger of provisions running short. “We are celebrating
by having an extra hard bread or so apiece. The snow
roof was completed to-day, and it is nice and comfortable
in here to-night.” Other entries explain that the long
delay in completing the outer house was due to the ab-
sence of suitable snow in the vicinity of the camp. They
could have hauled snow blocks from a distance on the
sledge, but apparently the discomfort of an uncovered
tent did not seem to them to justify the bother.

We have incorporated into the story in full every men-
tion contained in the diary that relates in any way to the
proposed trip to Nome. On December 25th the subject
comes up again. “I finished the complete set of dog
harness for the trip and Crawford is busy making ridge-
pole and uprights for the tent”—doubtless the tent which
they intended to carry with them to use if they had to
camp where there was insufficient snow for building a
snowhouse. The next day, “Crawford working on the
tent and I brought the sled indoors and made several re-
pairs on it. Hope to finish it to-morrow. Snowing hard,
so the trappers stayed in camp to-day.” Before that
time the diary tells us almost every day that two or three
of the boys were out tending traps. Sometimes they
came in with foxes and sometimes only with the reports
of bear tracks and fox tracks seen.

Now, we are impressed again, and more strongly than
ever, with the temperamental optimism of the party.
Food was running so short that, as we shall presently
see, they were considering the dog feed problem as a
new and important additional reason for starting soon
on the proposed journey to Nome. At this time of year
the sun is so far below the horizon even at noon that
on a cloudy day it is almost impossible to see a polar