The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-15


1t now became evident that the
crucial stage of the campaign was to
be transferred from the taking of the
Pole to the final battle for life against
the frost.
The clear blue of the sky changed to
a steady, dense gray and several days
of icy despair followed each other in
rapid success. There were some vio-
lent gales, but surely the cold did not
rise to the full force of the storm. With
starvation as our only alternative we
could not wait for better weather. Some
advances were made nearly every day.
On May "a the sky cleared long enough
to give us a set of observations and we
found that we had reached the eighty
fourth parallel near the nfnety-seventh
meridian.
Struggle of Twenty Days.
The ice was much broken and we
drifted eastward leaving many open
spaces of water.
There remained on our sledges scarce
ly enough food to reach our caches OIL
Nansen sound unless we averaged fif-
teen miles a day, and with our reduced
strength we were hardly equal to ten
miles a day.
Our clothing had been badly used and
much of our time now was spent in
mending our garments and boots and in
trying to harbor our supplies in an eff
fort to make the best of our hard luck.
A straight course was set for the
musk OK land. Crossing the eighty
third parallel we found ourselves to the
west of the large lead extending south
ward. The ice changed to small fields.
The temperature arose to zero and q
persistent mist obscured the heavens.
The events of the following day were
pressed into desperate action, with a
few lines on paper to register the life
of suffering.
duced to d three-quarter ration. The
difficulty of ice travel was at its worst.
At the end of a struggle of twenty
days through thick fog the sky cleared
Crown Prince Gustav's sea, near
Ringe's land, with open water and i'm
passable small ice as barrier between
us and Helberg island. III these long
fogS we were, therefore, unable to OBJ
tain observations.
7 Bear Meat at Last.
The ice. instead of drifting eastward,
as 1t had in the northward trip, now
drifted westward and southwark. 1t
had carried us far away from our in
tended return.
In Nansen sound and Eureka sound
we had placed caches of food for the
return trip to Greenland, and to reach
these it was impossible now. Our only
the ice to Lancaster sound, in the hope
of boarding a whaler and reaching
civilization during the September OF
last year.
win our 1000 now exhausted, the
question Of getting additional supplies
was of the utmost Importance. In pass
ing beyond Wrangel land we soon
found bear tracks and we also saw
seal; and then birds came along, and
we found enough to refill our larder
and keep us supplied for brief SPELL
Now our shrfveled skins were filled out
with bear meat For a brief time we
enjoyed the luxury of full stomachs,
and we moved southwark slowly over
ha brit inn inA TT
very much broken.
AS we pushed into WELLINGTON
Sound we were stopped by small ice.
The sound was packed. and we were
sledges. There were no longer any
birds or seal. We could not wait for
the ice to move. and as last resort
We crossed to North Devon and moved
into Jones Sound.
Here we hoped to secure large game,
and with that game we expected to
support ourselves and move eastward
to the boat. But again there was no
game; no birds-on1y ducks and gulls.
With what little rife ammunition we
had we secured gulls. but we. couldn't
get enough meat to feed our dogs, and
the dogs were permitted to follow
their progenitor-the wolf. We had
ten at this time. and then We had
aimed to advance without dogs. There
was open water in Jones Southland
now, for the first time, we had use for
our 1OlQ1nS canvas OOatS.
AT the Birds Row.
We had taken with us all the way to
the Pole and back to this point the
canvas boat. The wood of that boat
was q part of the sledge; the canvas
was a floor cover for our snow house
and the extra weight of the boat was
hardly appreciable.
= But now we spread the boat and
started eastward. A boat at this time
was very important fixture. If we
had not had this boat we never would
have been able to leave the western
part of Jones Sound. and never would
have survived through more than one
half the hardships without that boat.
With our little boat now we moved
slowly eastward. From the early part
of July to September we had long
adventure in boat and sledge, moving
in water and over ice.
For food we had only an occasional
bird and that was secured first at the
expense of our last rifle ammunition,
and later by the use of slingshot and
snares. We had no fuel-we were
very glad to get the birds and eat
them raw. But we were fortunate in
securing water at this time along the
shore.
With Bow and Arrow.
In the carly part of September we
found ourselves on the shores or Baf-
fms bay, there to stay for the winter.