Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-17

troubles beSan. the weather was severe.
An ice fog settled over us. The dogs
staggered over the rough. uneven ice
After twenty days of this we struck an
ice bridge between the mainland ice and
the polar ice. Over this we crossed COM
fortably, making twenty miles day. \
wind blew from the south and made the
weather bad.
After while the sun came out and
could take observations. | found we were
at the s4th degree. There was new land
to the west, but not trace of life any
where. At the SSth degree the screw
| ice began to mass. The wind was in the
southwest and the ice dritted to the
And then the day came. 1t was April
n, 1908.
when l awoke it was dark. The clouds
were black and there was no sun.
Il aroused the Eskimos. We waited for
the sun to come out When it appeared
we started.
I'VE were only fifteen seconds from the
| north pole. within actual sight of it
"Skaal!" Said Cook at North Pole.
What were your Thoughts" the cor
respondent asked DR.. Cook.
II don't know the explorer said. Il
think 1 just thought 'Skaal.' "
| "Skaal," in the Danish tongue, is the
equivalent of the German 'Gesundheit,'
| the French. "A Votre Sante," the Ameri-
can, Here's how
| In other words, Dr. Cook said to him
| self:
Here's to you, Cook, old boy. You've
| After they had gone a short distance
| DR.. Cook took two more observations
| and pressed forward again. At last he
| found he was on the Goth degree the top
of the world. the jumping off place. The
| ice was full of cracks. but Dr. Cook SUI
| fered no uneasineSs of mind
Cook Shouted and Danced.
Il shouted and danced" he said 1.-The
Eskimos did not even smile. They looked
solemn and awed and continually shifted
the air. The dogs alone were unim-
pressed.
AT last / merely stood silent I was
weak and tired Reaction had set in.
| and ! do not know that had any SEN
| sation whatever beyond a sort of numb
| ness
| 4, when thought came l realized that l
! stood with one leg on each side of the
earth. with the whole world lying south
| of me.
What O'Clock was it?" DR.. Cook coun-
| ter-questioned in response to the CORE
| spondent's query.
why, there was no calculable time at
ALL There is no time at the pole
Appearance of the North Pole.
/ will you excuse me if I ask foolish
| question:" inquired the correspondent.
Millions of ignorant people in the world
want to know what the pole looks like -
1t might look like a ten-cent piece
| Dr. Cook replied 1T might look like
anything. like nothing. Everywhere
there is ice-nothing but ice, ice, ice.
| There is no water at all, only unlimited
! ice. with more drifting ice than at the
| eighty-seventh degree.
I'VE stayed there two days. 1t was
| hard for me to tear myself away. l felt
! amused as l thought of what the modern
skepucs would say. l knew many would
| never believe l had been there.
You see, Il could not prove to some
| persons that l had been to the pole when
| there is nothing there
Here DR.. Cook showed a prophetic
| sense.
Forecasts Skeptical Criticisms.
They can say that I bought up the
Eskimos and that could have sat quietly
somewhere in the northern country and
| cooked up daily record. But If the
doubters really want to know the truth
| let them go to the pole and find the brass
| tube ] buried there
Il believe l would never have consented
| to start back if it had not begun to
| freeze. The Eskimos became restless
and longed to start south. And the dogs
howled. and howled. and howled. On
| the 2Sd of April we started back.
| LUCK was Will us. lie NcdlIIcI was
| fairly good and we made twenty miles a
day to the eighty-seventh degree. There
| the ice began to move to the east. Ice
| cracks and fogs checked us. For three
weeks it was damp and dismal and we
| could make no observations.
lat last we came to the eighty-fourth
| degree. l made observation and we
moved toward Hefbergs Land. After
| three more weeks of fog I found we had
| drifted southwest to Ringnessland. There
| and ice blocked to
| the east
Battle for Food Begun.
| Our provisions were gone. We were
reduced to less than quarter rauons of
| tallow. We could not reach our caches.
| Once we were in sight of one Of our
storehouses, but could not get to it on
account of the cracked-Hce that inter-
| vened.
I'VE landed at Ringnessland to hunt.
We saw a bear and seal. We got the
bear
AT that time we were making only
| eight miles a day, moving toward the
| south In Wellington channel We struck
| packed ice and could hardly move. There
| was no game, only a few birds.
I'VE were afraid to shoot at these, for
out of 100 cartridges we started with but
| fifteen were. left.
"At Jones sound we went after walrus
and bear. but there were only birds and
polar wolves Some of our dogs ran
away and joined the wolves.
I'VE kept on in our boats For. two
months we were ten miles from land
nearly all the time. The gales blew fu-
riously.. Once we pulled our boats on an
iceberg and remained there for forty
hours when the current carried the berg
toward land.
1--WE reached the shore and found more
birds These we shared and ate raw, be-
cause we had no fuel with which to cook
them.
Hunt With Bows and Arrows.
From July to September, 1908. we
could not go to sea because of sharp ice.
We made bows and arrows of the elastic
wood taken from our boats.
We hunted for wa'rus and finally found
F., a herd. We killed one, found fuel and
cooked it. That was our first good meal
| for weeks, and we ate for hours.
What was left we buried for future
| use. But while we slept a bear came and
| stole it.
! ''On the southeast coast of Cape Sparbo
We came upon Eskimo huts that had ap-
parently been deserted for centuries
They were half submerged. We also
| found caves in the rocks, evidently used
| for storing walrus meat.
Heavy stones had been thrown over
| their entrances. We pulled the stones
| away and took up our abode in one of
| the caves, killed another walrus and
| made ourselves comfortable
| Armed Like Men of Stone Age.
| I'VE saw musk oxen far away and
l <4I ne