"Our present danger surpassed all the former ones which I had ever experienced, because a protracted dread, and a continued expectation of death, is more trying than a speedy one, which spares us all those horrors and agonies which are far worse than death itself. Seeing then that we were threatened with starvation, we came to a resolution, which was rash at least, if not quite desperate; and considering that the human mind can conceive no death more terrible than that by hunger, we determined to leave our vessel, and travel across the ice, to see if we could discover in the one we had seen in the distance, anything we could avail ourselves of, either by fair means or force. "We carried this purpose into effect, and in a few minutes on the frozen waters was formed a squadron, small, perhaps, but composed of brave men, who, with myself as their leader, rolling, falling, and getting up again, reached at last the other vessel, for so it was, and pretty nearly the same size as our own. There were men in her, who, seeing us, and guessing our intentions, called out aloud, 'What do ye come here for, desperate men? what do ye seek? are ye come to hasten our death, or to die with us? Return to your ship, and if ye lack food, gnaw the rigging, and fill your stomachs with the pitchy wood, for if ye hope to have aid here, the hope is vain, and against the precepts of charity, which begins at home; for the two months during which this frost will last, we have one fortnight's provisions, and whether it is likely that we shall divide these with you, we leave you to consider upon.'