The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-11-04

| now accurately fixed for each stage of | imagination quickened, and restless, | almost hysteric excitement came over us. The boys fancied they saw beaver and seals, and I had new land under observation frequently, but with a change in the direction of light or an altered trend in our temperament the horizon cleared and we became eager only to push farther into the mystery. From the eighty-eighth to the eighty l ninth the ice was in very large fields and the surface was less irregular, but in other respects 1t was about the same as below the eighty-seventh. We noticed here also an extension of the range of vision We seemed to see longer distances and the ice along the horizon had less angular outline. The color'of the sky and the ice also changed to deeper purple blues. We had no way of checking these impress | sions by other observations The eagerness to find something unusual may have fired the imagination, but since the earth is fiattened at the pole perhaps a widened horizon should be detected.
 At o'clock on the morning of April | 19 we camped on a picturesque old ! field with convenient hummocks, to which we could easily rise for the ire quent outlook which we now maintain ed. The tent was pitched. The dogs were silenced by blocks of pemmican. In us new enthusiasm was aroused hy liberal pot of pea soup and a few | nr oF bathed in life giving sunbeams, screen | ed from the piercing air by silk strands. It was a beautiful day, and had our sense of appreciation not been blunted by accumulated fatigue we would have greatly enjoyed the play of light and color in the ever changing scene of sparkle.
 The Eskimos were soon lost in a profound sleep, the only comfort in their hard lives, but I remained awake, as had been my habit on succeeding l days, to get nautical observations. The longitude calculations lined us at 94 | degrees 8 minutes. At noon the suns l altitude was carefully set on the sex tant, and the latitude quickly reduced gave S9 degrees 31 minutes-twenty- nine miles from the pole.
 My heart jumped for joy, and the unconscious commotion which I was ! creating awakened Etukishuk. I told him that in two average marches we would reach the .'tigi shu'' (the big , naiD.
 Ahwelab was awakened with a kick, and together they went out to a hum mock ahd through glasses sought for a mark to locate so important a place as the terrestrial axis. If but one sleep beyond it must be seen. I tried to explain that the pole was not visible to the eye; that its position was located only by a repeated use of the various instruments. This entirely satisfied their curiosity, and they burst out in hurrahs of joy. For two hours they chanted and danced the passions of wild life.
 Sleep Is impossible.
 It was the first real sign of pleasure or rational emotion which they had shown for several weeks. For some time I had entertained the fear that we no longer possessed the strength to return to land. but the unbridled flow of vigor dispeIled that idea
 More sleep was quite impossible. We brewed an extra pot of tea, prepared favorite broth of pemmican, dug up surprise of fancy biscuits and filled up on good things to the limit of the al- lowance for our final feast days The dogs. which had joined the chorus of giadness. were given an extra lump of pemmican. A few hours more were agreeably spent in the tent, and then we started with a new spirit for the uttermost north.
 We were excited to fever heat The feet were light on this run. Even the dogs caught the infectious enthusf asm and rushed along at a pace which made it difficult for me to keep sufh cfent advance to set good course. The horizon was still searched for something to mark the approaching bo-eaI center, but nothing unusual was seen. It was the same expanse Of moving seas of ice on which we had lived for 500 miles.
 But, looking through gladdened eyes, the scene assumed a new glory There were plains of gold fenced in purple walls, with gilded crests. It was one of the few days on the stormy pack when all nature smiled with cheering lights.
 From my position a few hundred yards ahead of the sleds I could not resist the temptation to turn frequently to see the movement of the dog train with its new fire. In this direction the color scheme was reversed. The icy walls were in gold and burning col ors, while the plains represented every shade of purple and blue.
 At the North Pole.
 Through this sea of color the dogs came with spirited tread, noses down, tails up and shoulders braced to the straps like chariot horses. The young Eskimos. chanting songs of love, came with easy step. The long whip was swung with brisk crack, and all over there rose a cloud of frosted breath.
 Camp was pitched early in the morn ing of April 20. The sun was north east; the pack glowed in tones of lilac;