A full month had now elapsed since Sonntag and Hans left us, and several days of the January moonlight having passed over without bringing them back, I had some cause for alarm. It was evident that they had either met with an accident, or were detained among the Esquimaux in some unaccountable manner. I therefore began to devise means for determining what had become of them. First, I sent Mr. Dodge down to Cape Alexander to pursue the trail and ascertain whether they had gone around or over the cape. The sledge-track was followed for about five miles, when it came suddenly to an end, the ice having broken up and drifted away since December. Dodge could now only examine the passes of the glacier; and finding there no tracks, it was evident that the party had gone outside. My next concern was to determine whether the tracks reappeared on the firm ice south of the cape; and accordingly I prepared to start with a small foot party, and cross over the glacier. In the event of finding tracks below Cape Alexander, my course would then be governed by circumstances; but if the track should not appear, it would be conclusive evidence that the party was lost, and I would proceed south until I reached the Esquimaux, for I could no longer afford to delay communication with them. Although the temperature had now fallen to 43° below zero, yet the careful preparations which I had made for camping relieved the journey from any risks on that account. The mercury froze for the first time during the winter while Dodge was absent, and I was extravagant enough to mould a bullet of it and send it from my rifle through a thick plank. Dodge, who was one of my most hardy men, returned from his twelve hours' tramp complaining that he had suffered rather from heat than cold, and he declared that, when called upon another time to wade so far through snow-drifts and hummocks, he would not carry so heavy a load of furs. In truth, both he and his two companions came in perspiring freely under their buffalo-skin coats. [Sidenote: ARRIVAL OF ESQUIMAUX.] My projected journey was, however, destined not to come off. The sledge was loaded with our light cargo, and we were ready to set out on the morning of the 27th, but a gale sprung up suddenly and detained us on board during that and the following day. Early in the morning of the 29th, the wind having fallen to calm, we were preparing to start. The men were putting on their furs, and I was in my cabin giving some last instructions to Mr. McCormick, when Carl, who had the watch on deck, came hastily to my door to report "Two Esquimaux alongside." They had come upon us out of the darkness very suddenly and unobserved. [Sidenote: SONNTAG'S DEATH REPORTED.]