There were now only one hundred and sixty left, and ten of these were in bad condition.

But I discovered that day, on having the frozen walrus meat ripped up on the forecastle, that we had a greater supply than we had believed, and the discovery drove away the nightmare which had been haunting us.

From now on the dogs could be fed a little more generous allowance of the best kind of food.

For, after we had tried practically everything, including our bacon, it was found that walrus meat agreed with them better than anything else.
The importance of this matter must not be lost sight of for an instant.
Dogs, and plenty of them, were vitally necessary to the success of the expedition.

Had an epidemic deprived us of these animals, we might just as well have remained comfortably at home in the United States.