On the 2nd May, Cagni improved the condition of his finger, which had again pained him greatly. The glands in the armpit were also inflamed. When the finger was unbandaged, it was found to be greatly swollen. With a lancet in his left hand, Cagni opened the swelling and gave outlet to a large quantity of matter. After taking away a covering of dead flesh, a piece of bone was found sticking out of the wound. Cagni had only scissors to work with, but with these he managed to cut off the projection. The whole proceeding occupied him fully two hours. His courage was beyond praise. On the 8th May the latitude was found to be 83° 42′. On this date the temperature had risen to freezing-point. On the 10th, Cagni discovered that he had drifted about 8 degrees of longitude to the west of Teplitz Bay. In the latitude he was in this represented about 57 geographical miles. He therefore steered a course more to the east. In spite of this new direction, Cagni found two days later that he was still farther to the west. He now hesitated to steer more to the east in case his chronometers had been going more slowly, due to the rise in temperature. This decision had an important bearing on the future trials of the party. On the 18th May it was found that though the party had been travelling nine days towards the south-east, they were still on the same meridian. Channels now became so frequent that the course was difficult to keep, and the weather became stormy and foggy. On the 23rd May latitude 82° 1′ was reached, so that the party was now nearly on a level with the northern part of Prince Rudolf Island. The drift was, however, so great that during the next six days only about 10 miles were covered towards the island. Provisions were now running short, and both the physical and mental condition of the men began to deteriorate. According to the longitude, they were still 6 degrees west of Teplitz Bay. It now became necessary to ferry the sledges and dogs across the channels on large pieces of ice, and progress became very slow. After struggling desperately towards the east, it was found on the 7th June that they were farther to the west than on the 1st of the month. The week’s toil had therefore been in vain. This made Cagni come to the wise decision to give up fighting against the drift, and to proceed southwards, where he would probably reach islands from which he would have a better chance of reaching Prince Rudolf Island.