Ilatsiak - 24

It was clear from their hushed conversations that the officers had been disturbed by the sudden appearance of the hunter. While he appeared harmless enough, they knew enough about his kind not to take unnecessary chances. After conferring for some time, they broke from their huddle and approached David and the other crew members.
“The arrival of the hunter has meant we will be changing our original plans somewhat. Two of you will remain here at the depot to secure its contents while we determine how to best deal with the situation. Mr Young, you will be in charge. Lt Irving and I will leave you and Mr Shanks here to see to the safety of this depot. Lt Irving, myself and Mr Kinnaird will return to Cape Felix in the morning. We will set about arranging the boxes in order to provide a shelter for you until we return with a sledge party in a week or so. Now that our supplies here have been seen by the natives, they will no doubt be broken into and scattered far and wide. Your duty will be to see that doesn't happen.
“Let’s see what food items can be had. You will need provisions for about two weeks at most, I would estimate before we return...”
The remainder of the time Lts Fairholme and Irving remained at the depot, they saw to it that David and Mr Shanks were as comfortably housed as possible by making a makeshift shelter using whatever supplies were to be found and that they were provided with whatever would be needed for the two week stay. The biggest problem was food and a means of heating it. There was almost nothing in the way of food items at the depot. Finally it was decided that the items left behind on their way to the depot would probably last the two weeks if both men were careful. In the morning, a cold overcast day with a nasty westerly wind to contend with, the two officers and Kinnaird set off on the return trek to Cape Felix. David was grateful to see the end of Lt Irving and the treatment he had been enduring during the trek out. He and Mr Shanks returned along the trail as far as the small food cache where they said their farewells to the others as they departed. The ice conditions had deteriorated even during the few days the party had spent at the depot and David found it useful to carry a wooden pole to use as a probe to test the ice as he walked along much like the hunter they had met had been doing. The others felt this was overly cautious and Lt Irving especially made fun of him, calling David, their little ‘Eskimo’ boy as he appeared to be imitating the man who had visited them the previous day.
Their goodbyes made, David and Mr Shanks began their return journey to the depot. They had no sled to carry the heavy cans of food which they had been left, however David soon improvised a piece of canvas and a length of rope into a sled suitable for pulling all the cans along over the ice. He was quite pleased with himself as he and Mr Shanks slowly made their way back across the frozen sea.
The day was turning hot and the radiation off the sea ice as the sun climbed higher began to bother both of them, especially Mr Shanks. He started to complain of being thirsty and tried to grab handfuls of snow to eat hoping to gain some relief from it. However, as time went on, he only became more and more thirsty. He was a big man, well built and seemed to possess considerable strength. However the heat and the glare seem to melt his strength away. David could see him staggering somewhat as he walked along, especially when it was not his turn to pull the food bag. Several times David had to speak to him about veering to the right towards the open water and the poor ice as they walked along. Each time, Shanks would complain that David was taking the long way around for nothing and saying that they would be forever out on the ice if they didn’t take a more direct route. David only shrugged his shoulders and continued along. He was certain that getting too close to the edge of the ice would be dangerous. Already his probe had gone through in a number of places and he was glad of the warning it gave him.
Shanks was some distance to the right of David and seemed to be walking closer to a patch of open water, gleaming blue and sparkling in the sunlight. On several occasions David heard him yelling in his direction, but was unable to make out his words. David yelled back each time, recommending that the ice was safer for walking where he was and that Shanks ought to stay well way from the open water. It was lost on Shanks, who began pointing at something near the ice edge and waving for David to have a look. David’s probe went through again and forced him to retreat and seek another route through the ice and watery maze that surrounded them.
Finally it happened. A cry brought David’s head up quickly. Mr Shanks was in the water. He had found a weak spot and broken through. David dropped the sled rope and testing for thin ice as he went, he ran towards Shanks as fast as he could. The ice seemed solid until about ten feet from where Shanks was floundering in the water. Each time he made a grab for the ice in order to haul himself out, he found nothing to hold on to except slippery wet ice. David held out his pole, but there was a current and Shanks began to float away from the ice edge, buoyed by his heavy woolen jacket.
“Grap the end!” he yelled to the half drowned Shanks, but it was plain to see the wooden probe was already too short to grab and the distance was increasing with each second.
“I can’t reach...”
Shanks saw himself drifting dangerously out of reach, but was quick enough to also see his best chance lay in letting the current carry him to the far side of the opening in the ice. He was not a swimmer, but somehow managed to flounder and float the few dozen yards to the opposite ice edge and finding firmer ice held on until David made his way around to him. Once there, it was an easier task to extend the probe and between the two of them, Shanks managed to pull himself out and onto the firmer ice.
“I’m frozen through, Mr Young. I’m nearly drowned. I’ll die here in the dreadful place!”
“Take off your parka. We’ll try to dry you off a bit. The sun’s quite hot. Perhaps you can wear some of my clothes in the meantime 'til we get yours dry.”
They began the odd business of undressing out on the ice, Mr Shanks piling his wet ones on the retreived food sled and then he and David attempted to divide up David’s dry clothes. Apart from having to wear his wet boots, they ended up working out a reasonable sharing of dry things fairly well. It also served to stem the stream of complaints coming from Shanks about taking the shortest route. However, once the safety of the shore was reached, he began to complain again of David being too slow, of being cold and being certain that he was near to death’s door. It was true, the heat of the day had passed, the sun being now lower in the sky and David was feeling chilly as well. Ominously a bank of high clouds appeared to be moving in from the west and blanked off the sun earlier than usual.