On December 7 a number of Eskimos put in an appearance bringing with them two members of the exploring party. From them Kane learnt that they had failed hopelessly in their mission, and that their comrades were housed at a settlement 200 miles away. He accordingly sent back the Eskimo escort with such supplies as he could spare to bring back the remainder of his friends. So rapidly did the natives travel that five days later they were back again with Hayes and his party, all of whom were in a state of collapse. Indeed, had it not been for the great kindness with which they had been treated by the Etah Eskimos they must inevitably have perished. A more unutterably miserable winter was probably never passed by any band of Arctic explorers. As the anti-scorbutics, the food and the fuel failed, the condition of the men grew worse and worse, and Kane made up his mind that as soon as spring came round he would spare no efforts to make his way to civilised regions. The only person on board who seems to have been reasonably happy was the hunter, Hans Christian. While all his comrades were wondering how in the world they were to support life, he had fallen head over ears in love with a fair Eskimo damsel of Etah, to whom he intended to get married as soon as he could make his way to the nearest settlement. With the details of the return journey we need not concern ourselves. It began in May, and after almost superhuman exertions, the party succeeded in reaching Upernivik on August 3. Thence they were taken back to the United States in the squadron which, under the command of Lieutenant Harstene, had been sent out to their rescue. In the following year Hayes, Kane’s surgeon, set out in the schooner _United States_ on an expedition, the object of which was to verify Morton’s story of the open polar sea, in which the worthy doctor had the firmest belief. The winter was marked by a tragedy, for Sontag, the astronomer and probably the most valuable member of the party, was frozen to death on a sledging expedition. Had he been spared he might have saved Hayes from perpetrating the extraordinary series of blunders which were the most startling feature of his spring journey up the coast of Grinnell Land. Not only did he make a number of unreliable observations, with the result that his chart had to be entirely altered by subsequent explorers, but he also imagined that he saw a magnificent polar sea, which proved ultimately to be nothing but the southern half of Kennedy Channel. This part of the channel freezes late and opens early, owing to the exceptionally high tides, and is rarely entirely closed. CHAPTER XX HALL AND THE “POLARIS”