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returned with sleds and dog teams, indicating that the trek to Cambridge Bay would begin soon. But when? The violent storm destroyed the ice that had formed along the route they would be taking, once again postponing their departure. The mental strain from the wait was agony, and the men’s hopes seemed as broken as the ice along the shore.
    With the Inuit now numbering sixteen, Dishwater Point had become a crowded settlement with little to occupy the men’s thoughts and actions. The waiting was all-consuming. Some gathered fuel. Others hunted for food. The colonel even made a list of the things the Inuit might want once the Domex men made their way to Cambridge Bay. They sang songs, told stories, and played cards — anything to distract them from the tedium of waiting.
    Richard Pearce recorded his impressions of this time at Dease Point on October19, 1929: “The storm blew itself out during the night and this is a beautiful day. I went outside early, and found that the snow had drifted right up to the top of the shack. The tent near the doorway had caved in, its steel ridgepole and end rods being broken. The drifts are as hard as rocks.”
    The men began their daily routine of shoring-up, propping-up, and cleaning-up. Pearce was invited to go by dog sled to a cache near Dishwater Point. He gladly hopped onboard with his Inuit friend Charlie, and when they reached their destination he was quite surprised to discover the real object of the journey was to distribute the belongings of an old woman who had recently died. Her “will” consisted of a single piece of paper with six rows of human figures drawn on it. Those gathered had all been invited to this ceremony and each came up and received their share of the woman’s possessions, which ranged from a baking powder tin full of cigarette butts to a hand-sewing machine.
    After the ceremony the group returned to their settlement, and around 3:00 in the afternoon the feasting began. Pearce managed to feed the group of twenty-four with the food that had been brought to camp from the cache. It was a very tight squeeze in the sod house, but the companionship seemed to calm the Domex men, or perhaps it was because the Inuit had given them a tentative date as to when they felt the ice would be ready to cross — or it could have been the fact that Pearce had been given some tobacco. The necessity to use toilet paper as cigarette rollers didn’t damper the joyous event. At this gathering, forty days since they had first met, the men learned the Inuit names of their friends: “Grand-dad told me his name was Unani, that ‘Mary’s’ was Helika, ‘Jim’s’ Tepinna, ‘Charlie’s’ wife, Bunnuck, ‘Jack’s’ Awordiwo, ‘Joe’s’ Keninya, ‘Dad’s’ Otoogo, the pretty girl’s Olga, and the new Eskimo, Tigattook, the mother Kena, ‘Alice’ Tigalook and ‘Charlie’ Penukta.” [2]
    The following morning, October 20, Mac wrote notices and placed them in both planes saying: “Everybody OK in party. Left here on October 21 with three huskie [ sic ] dog teams. It is planned that the Colonel, Pearce and Baker recuperate day or so at Cambridge, then proceed by dog team to Burnside base. If steamship Bay Maud is still wintering at Cambridge and her wireless is OK, then this trip to Burnside may not be necessary. If you have gas, return by way of Cambridge Bay Post.” [3]
    The men glimpsed a mirage to the west of Dishwater Point and took it to be a good omen for the next day’s journey. This sight appeared to be the reflection of the straits they needed to cross and also of what appeared to be Bathurst Inlet. Both early Arctic expedition members and modern-day Northern explorers write about the refraction of the Arctic light and how tricks can be played on the eyes. Tales have been told of icebergs floating in the sky and great phantom ice-covered mountain