Pluckily the men set about preparing for the long winter.  Three huts of stone and snow were planned, and while they were building, the hunters of the party scoured the neighboring ice-floes and pools for game—­foxes, ptarmigan, and seals.  There were no mistaken ideas concerning their deadly peril.  Every man knew that if game failed, or if the provisions they hoped had been cached by the relief expeditions somewhere in the vicinity, could not be found, they might never leave that spot alive.  Day by day the size of the rations was reduced.  October 2 enough for thirty-five days remained, and at the request of the men, Greely so changed the ration as to provide for forty-five days.  October 5 Lieutenant Lockwood noted in his diary: 

“We have now three chances for our lives:  First, finding American cache sufficient at Sabine or at Isabella; second, of crossing the straits when our present ration is gone; third, of shooting sufficient seal and walrus near by here to last during the winter.”

How delusive the first chance proved we shall see later.  The second was impractical, for the current carried the ice through the strait so fast, that any party trying to cross the floe, would have been carried south to where the strait widened out into Baffin’s Bay before they could possibly pass the twenty-five miles which separated Cape Sabine from Littleton Island.  Moreover, there was no considerable cache at the latter point, as Greely thought.  As for the hunting, it proved a desperate chance, though it did save the lives of such of the party as were rescued.  All feathered game took flight for the milder regions of the south when the night set in.  The walrus which the hunters shot—­two, Greely said, would have supplied food for all winter—­and the seal sunk in almost every instance before the game could be secured.

The first, and most hopeful chance, was the discovery of cached provisions at Cape Sabine.  To put this to the test, Rice, the photographer, who, though a civilian, proved to be one of the most determined and efficient men in the party, had already started for Sabine with Jens, the Esquimau.  October 9 they returned, bringing the record of the sinking of the “Proteus,” and the intelligence that there were about 1300 rations at, or near Cape Sabine.  The record left at Cape Sabine by Garlington, the commander of the “Proteus” expedition, and which Rice brought back to the camp, read in part:  “Depot landed ... 500 rations of bread, tea, and a lot of canned goods.  Cache of 250 rations left by the English expedition of 1882 visited by me and found in good condition.  Cache on Littleton Island.  Boat at Isabella.  U.S.S.  ‘Yantic’ on way to Littleton Island with orders not to enter the ice.  I will endeavor to communicate with these vessels at once....  Everything in the power of man will be done to rescue the (Greely’s) brave men.”

This discovery changed Greely’s plans again.  It was hopeless to attempt hauling the ten or twelve thousand pounds of material believed to be at Cape Sabine, to the site of the winter camp, now almost done, so Greely determined to desert that station and make for Cape Sabine, taking with him all the provisions and material he could drag.  In a few days his party was again on the march across the frozen sea.