The next day he would press on to the north. But bear tracks were every-where, and the savage chiefs preferred hunting to exploring; besides, they had, they said, their families to support, and there was no use trying to cross the channel so high up. The English of it was, we are "going in" for the bears, and you may help yourself. A day more was spent in a wild hunt among the bergs, and the party returned to the brig. A little later still another attempt was made to unlock further the secrets of the extreme icy north, this time by only Kane and Morton with a six-dog sledge, the explorers walking. This, the last effort of the kind, ended in the usual way, excepting some additions to the surveys. CHAPTER XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND. THE final escape from the brig must now be commenced. From the early fall its necessity had been thought of, and preparations for it commenced. Since the sick had begun to improve, the work in reference to it had been going on with system. Coverlets of eider down, beds, or furs which could be used as such, boots, moccasins, a full supply to meet emergencies, were prepared. Provision bags were made and filled with powder, ship-bread, pork-fat, and tallow melted down, and cooked concentrated bean soup. The flour and meat biscuit were put in double bags. Two boats had been made from the ship's beams twenty-six feet long, seven feet across, and three feet deep. Incredible toil by weak and sick men had been expended upon these boats. A neat "housing" of light canvas was raised over each of them. One other boat, the "Red Eric," was in readiness. There was no assurance that either of these boats would long float, yet all was done which the circumstances allowed to make them sea-worthy. The three boats were mounted on sledges. The necessary outfit, so far as they could bear, was to be stowed away in them. Every thing being in readiness, a vast amount of _thinking_ having been employed by the commander in reference to all contingencies, a peremptory order of march was issued for the seventeenth of May. The men were given twenty-four hours to get ready eight pounds of such personal effects as they chose. From the date of starting the strictest discipline and subordination was to be observed, which came hard upon the long-indulged, improving sick ones. The perfectness of the preparations had a good effect, yet there were many moody doubters. Some insisted that the commander only meant to go further south, holding the brig to fall back upon; some thought he would get the sick nearer the hunting grounds; others believed that his purpose was to secure some point of lookout for the English explorers, or whaling vessels.