The farmer and mechanic., 1909-09-14

red and shaped like football bv ex-
cessed reflection, Just raised itself
above the horizon for a few minutes
and then disappeared again. It was the
first time / had seen it since Octo-
Der 1.
Anxiety for Two Of Party
I now began to feel a good deal Of
anxiety, because there were no signs
Of Marvin and Borup, who should
have been there for two DAYS Besides
they had the alcohol and OIL which
were indispensa BILE for US. We con-
cluded that they had either lost the
trail or were imprisoned on an island
by open water, probably the latter
Fortunately, on March II the lead
was practicable, and, leaving a note
for Marvin and Borup to push on after
US by forced marches, we proceeded
northward. The sounding Of the lead
gave 10 fathoms- During this march
we crossed the eighty-fourth parallel
and traversed succession Of just
frozen leads, from q few hundred
yards to mile in width. This march
was really simple.
On the 18th we got free of the lea ds
and came on decent going. While we
| were making camp courier from
Marvin came and Informed me he
was on the march in the rear. The
| temperature was SO.
The following morning, March H.
sent Hansen with his division north
to pioneer a trail for five marches,
and DR.. GoodsalI, accor ding to the
| program, started back to Cape Co
| lumbia. At night Marvin and Borup
| came spinning in with their men and
dogs steaming in the bitter air like
squadron of battleships. Their ar
rival relieved me Of all anxiety as to
| our oil supply.
In the morning 1 discovered that
MacMillan's foot was badly FROST
bitten. The mishap had occurred two
or three days before, but Mac MILAN
had said nothing about it, in the hope
! that it would come out all right. A
! glance at the injury showed me that
! the only thing was to send him back
! to Cape Columbia at once. The arrival
Of Marvin and Borup enabled me to
spare sufficient men and dogs to go
| back with him.
Forced to Send Him Back.
This early loss of Macmillan was
seriously disappointing to me. He had
! a sleGge all the way from Cape Co
| lumbia, and with his enthusiasm and
! the powers and physique Of the train
ed athlete, l had confidence in him fer
at least the eighty sixth parallel, but
there was no alternative.
The best sledges and dogs were Sc
| lected, and the sledge loads brought
up to the standard. The sounding gave
a depth Of 1926 fathoms We were over
| surmised the successive leads crossed
! in the fifth and sixth marches com
posed the big lead and marked the
| continual shelf
On leaving this camp, the eNpedi-
ton comprised 16 men, Il sIedges, and
| 100 dogs. The next march was salts
| factory as regards distance and char
| acter of going. In the latter part
| there were pronounced movements in
| the ice both visible and audible. Some
| leads were crossed, in one of which
| ROrup and his team took a bath and
| we were finally stopped by an imprac-
ticable lead opening in front of Us.
We camped in a temperature of so.
| At the end of two short marches we
came upon Hansen and his party in
camp, mending their sledges. We de-
| voted the remainder of the day to
Overhauling and mending Sledges and
breaking uD our damaged ones for ma
| terial.
Yale Man Turns Back
I The next morning l put Marvin in
the lead TO pioneer the trail, with iE-
structions to make two forced marches
to bring up our average, which had
been cut down by the last two short
ones. Marvin carried out his instruc-
tions implicitly A considerable amount
of young ice assisted in this. At the
end of the tenth march, latitude 1928,
Borup turned back in command Of
the second supporting party, having
travelled a distance equivalent to Nan
sen distance from this far to his
farthest north I was sorry to lose
this young Yale runner, with his en-
thusiasm and pluck. He had led MS
heavy sledge over the flOeS in a way
that commanded every ones admira-
ton, an would have made his fathers
eyes glisten.
( From this point the exp edition com
prised 20 men, 10 sledges, and 70 dogs.
1t was necessary for Marvin tC take
a sledge from here, and [ put Bartlett
and his division in advance to pioneer
the trail
Two Parties Near Together.
The continual daylight enabled me
to make moderation here that drew
my advance and main parties closer