To the southern end of Boothia came the indefatigable Rae. That cheery hero of the north left Repulse Bay on the 31st of March, 1854, to complete the Hudson's Bay Company's survey. On the 20th of April he met a young Eskimo in Pelly Bay, who told him the fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and from him and his people Rae obtained a number of small articles, forks and spoons and so forth, which had undoubtedly come from the ships, one of which had been crushed in the ice, the other sinking after drifting further south. Rae was not the man to return until he had attacked the work he had set out to do, and he continued his surveying with his customary accuracy, despatch, and general alertness, striking across the peninsula, discovering the Murchison River, reaching Simpson's farthest at Castor and Pollux River, and thence proving the insularity of King William Land by travelling up the east coast of the strait now named after him—and he was back again in August. He had almost finished the survey of the northern coast-line; and he had ascertained how and where Franklin's voyage had ended, for which discovery the British Government gave him the reward of £10,000, letting it be understood that so far as they were concerned the Franklin searches were at an end. But Lady Franklin thought one more effort should be made to unravel the mystery of her husband's fate, and there were many who thought the same. Helped to a certain extent by a public subscription, she organised another expedition. The steam-yacht _Fox_ was bought from the executors of Sir Richard Sutton and altered for Arctic work by her builders, the Halls of Aberdeen clipper fame. As leader went Captain, afterwards Sir, Frederick Leopold M'Clintock, who had done such brilliant sledge-work in the north; like his second in command, Lieutenant W. R. Hobson, he gave his services gratuitously, as also did Dr. David Walker and Captain, afterwards Sir, Allen Young, then of the Mercantile Marine, who also subscribed £500 towards the fund. Carl Petersen, the Eskimo interpreter on the voyages of Penny and Kane, came to join from Copenhagen, having landed there from Greenland only six days previously. The British Government, although declining to send out an expedition, contributed liberally to the supplies, and sent on board all the arms and ammunition and ice-gear and every instrument that was asked for. [Illustration: THE "FOX" ESCAPING FROM THE PACK] Lady Franklin's instructions were so characteristic of the noble-hearted woman whose name can never be forgotten in Arctic story that they must be given in full:— "ABERDEEN, _June 29, 1857_. "MY DEAR CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK,