Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-11-25
strife, no letters, no newspapers, and
no repOrtars 0Iaughter)

strife. no letters, no newspapers, and
| no reporters. Oaughter).
! One might think ouT health suf-
fered during this long night AS a
matter of fact we grew so fat that be-
! fore spring each year l used to be
afarid of trusting such fat men upon
| the delicate Arctic foe
The most thrilling part Of the lee
j ture was the relating of the adven-
| lures he and Johansen experienced
after leaving the Fran and making
/ their desperate dash for the pole.
! They had two kyacks on three sledges
and % dogs. They carried provisions
| for themselves three months and for
! the dogs one month. Said the lee
turer in substance:
The ice was sometimes smooth as
we journeyed north, but usually piled
in rough and Jagged hummocks of
; ten or twenty feet high. Before these
great walls the dogs would calmly sit
and let us drag the sleds across on
our hands and knees, almost. We
went slowly, more slowly every day,
and the ice became rougher. At
l6ngth, on the 7th day of April we
reached Sc dogs and IA minutes north
the 'Farthest North and determined
to stop. [ went myself a little bit
, farther, assembled a high hummock
End looked longingly, regretfully to-
yards the north, toward the pole
But [ saw ice, ice, ice, nothing but
! rough hummocks of ice for miles in
! every direction. Then We turned
south and spent days in walking
around channels going far out of our
! course. Meanwhile we were daily
! killing one of the dogs to feed the
! rest. We disliked much to destroy
| these faithful animals that served us
! gladly to their last moment. But we
! must either kill the dogs or die our
selves. We had no food left for the
team and we must get on at all haz-
ards. At length we came to true
/ open water, the edge of the foe, and
launched our kyacks. Then we had
to kill our last dogs, my dog and
JOhansen's. You see what fine ami
mails they were! This bushy one was
mine, and this with the big eyes Jo-
! hansen's. CA general sigh from the
/ ladies) But we couldn't kill our own
/ pets. | took Johansen's behind a
/ hummock and shot it. Johansen
killed mine.
We got afioat and went quite rap
idly, sailing together with joined
/ kyacks, when there was a breeze, Or
padding with double-bladed paddle
when the wind went down. We would
land nights on pieces of the foe We
/ had hoped to reach land in May But
May passed and June came and
passed. 1t was July "a when we got
| our first glimpse Of land, covered with
ice. We we're not less than fourteen
days in reaching that distant spot of
earth. Before we reached there we
had an accident. I was struggling on
ahead near some open water when l
! heard a noise behind. Get a gum
cried Johansen. I turned He was
lying On his back beneath the feet of
a great white bear. I jumped down
to the kyack and tried to find the
! gun II "do SttiC1 away LlSuL, lar
forward. As I was pulling at it des-
perately 1 heard Johansen speak up
calmly, I think you'd better hurry I'D,
if you don't want to come too late.
I glanced back again. The bears
mouth was open and he was going to
take bite of Johansen's head I
yelled, the dogs started barking
again. The bear closed his jaws. I
steadied the gun and pulled up the
hammer. Then I remembered that
it was the right barrel, the barrel
charged with bird shot only But I
was at short range. I let fly back of
the bears ear and he fell dead on the
spot. The bird shot was enough. I