The Redwood gazette., 1894-12-20
THENORTH POLE
A Hearty Welcome.
From first page.

"A Hearty Welcome.
It was late in the evening when we ap.
preached the shores Of Walden island
through wide water hole. Two men and
. dog came running down to meet us, and
as we padded the boats through sludge
they ran along the edge of the fast ice and
shouted out their welcome and the news
Of their arctic st. Helena. Captain Bot
telfsen and four men had started nearly q
month ago for Danes island and Norway
In the little Kane. Every one was we'll at
the island. There had been no open wa
ter and Of course no hunting vessels with
in sight from the mountain top, and the
poor old Ragnvald Jarl had remained
afloat, literally held up by the ice which de-
stroyed her, for a period of ten days after
the catastrophe
One after another of the seven inhabit.
ants of the island came running down to
meet us. We were astonished at their ap-
pearance and they at ours, SO white, clean
and newly shaven, SO neatly attired, were
they in comparison with our tanned,
dirty and bedraggled selves. As the off,
GERS Of the expedition clambered over the
rocks and approached the house built of
timbers from the i'll fated ship-the Hotel
White Bear, the men had named it-a sa-
lutte was fred from the mountain in our
honor.
A trivial but comical example of the
irony Of fate was afforded by the welcome
which the dog gave us. He was the sole
survivor of his tribe and deserter from
the cause at that. Him and So of his fell
lows had we bought in Belgium for a sum
which in his country would have been
deemed small fortune. We had paid
third class fare for them on railways and
more fares on steamers; had hired men to
take care of them; had bought two tons of
the best dog food for their subsistence; had
built them a private deck in the hold of
the Jarl, and there fed and watered and
nursed them with tender hands; had pro-
vided them with medicines and chains and
nice harness and everything a reasonable
dog could ask for; had risked our lives and
limbs parting them when they fought and
had dressed their wounds when the COM
bat was over. In return for all this the last
dog met us at the shore with growls and
white teeth and many suspicious shifts
and persistent unwillingness to permit
us to set foot upon the dry land. Such is
life.
AUG. 3.-We leave Walden island in
few hours and do SO without regret. It is
q very comfortable resort, but the winter
will soon be coming on, and a wintering
here means that when spring comes our
bones will be found bleaching on the
rocks. The Hotel White Bear has been a
snug resting place for two weeks two
weeks OF weary waiting for a chance to
get away. Though the wind was for many
days strong in the right quarter, the stub
born ice would never move. It began to
be serious question whether it ever would
move. Until some change in the situation
Is, whittier moving. You are it's abject
slave. You must consult its every mood
and whim. All your conversation is of
it. The first thing in the morning is a
look at the ice and consultation about
it. This is repeated once an hour all day.
The last thing before retiring at night is
final inspection of the ice-nay, more,
even when the winds are still, the sky
clear and no danger apparent you must
still keep watch throughout the night.
The ice king is not only tyrannical but
he is treacherous. This vigil is a tribute
which he demands under threat of the
direst penalty. Neglect him, and he comes
stealthily down upon you, serpentlike,
with a hiss and rattle and just as you pop
your eyes open in a sudden sense of alarm
he has you in his embrace. This is the
sort of tyrant we have been living with all
summer, and we have him with us STILL
For exercise we go to the top of the
mountain and roll great stones down its
precipitous sides. There is something fas-
cinating in the sport, for we imagine we
are bombarding the ice. So industrious
have we been that the mountain is denud-