We Communicated This Resolution
To The Men Who Were Cheered At The Slightest Prospect Of Alleviation To
Their Present Miseries And Promised With Great Appearance Of Earnestness
To Return To Those Officers Upon The First Supply Of Food.
The party then moved on; Vaillant's blanket and other necessaries were
left in the track at the request of the Canadians, without any hope
however of his being able to reach them.
After marching till dusk without
seeing a favourable place for encamping, night compelled us to take
shelter under the lee of a hill amongst some willows, with which, after
many attempts, we at length made a fire. It was not sufficient however to
warm the whole party, much less to thaw our shoes, and the weather not
permitting the gathering of tripe de roche we had nothing to cook. The
painful retrospection of the melancholy events of the day banished sleep,
and we shuddered as we contemplated the dreadful effects of this bitterly
cold night on our two companions, if still living. Some faint hopes were
entertained of Credit's surviving the storm as he was provided with a
good blanket and had leather to eat.
The weather was mild next morning. We left the encampment at nine and at
a little before noon came to a pretty extensive thicket of small willows
near which there appeared a supply of tripe de roche on the face of the
rocks. At this place Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood determined to remain
with John Hepburn who volunteered to stop with them.
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