stefansson-wrangel-09-25-008-014

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- 14 -

The entries from January 22nd to January 27th are routine,
the making of clothing, tending of fox traps, etc.

On January 28th: "They’re off. At 9:10 A.M., a nice
clear day, warmer than usual and all in their favor. They were going due
south when last seen, and were soon out of sight."

January 29: "Blowing a howling gale from the east.
This is very comfortable and a little wood goes a long way. Yesterday and
to-day I have been busy fixing the place up, making it convenient for two
people. Now we are well fixed until the snow starts to melt in the spring.
All of the boxes outside will then have to be cleaned out (the snow removed
from them), the roof and walls of the house dug away, and numerous other
things will keep us busy. If only a bear would wander into camp, we would
be fixed in great shape, for with only two of us and no dogs a bear would go
a long way. In a couple of months the females will be coming out of their
holes with their cubs and then we should have plenty of meat. My left leg
just above the knee is considerably swollen and is giving me some pain.
Whether it is from scurvy or not, I am not sure, and although it does not
lay me up, it makes moving rather painful. Fresh meat will fix me up, I am
sure."

This, the day after the party left, is on the whole a
cheerful entry, and also one which gives an answer to many of the questions
that have been asked since the tragic outcome was published. Few of the
theories that have pleased the journalists can be held except by ignoring
this and several other entries of the same sort. On the basis of them the
reader can form his own conclusions without editorial help.

But in that cheerful entry the first sentence is ominous
to us, though the context shows it did not have that meaning to Knight as

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