The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1909-09-17

pregva0 vss for hin to 70 Aaek from
hsss 10 eenmand 81 the fourth sup
Destia0 Dosty. and there wsrs 10 sup
Dlis0 fes - increase In the nAain party.
Whss - left felt for . noms.s
DanOo - regret a. he AisappeaFsA 10
the 1aseaaos. but it vas only noaen-
taFy. ~ work vas still ahead. not IN
tAo Peae.
Bartlett had done good work and had
6oea Q great help to me. Circumstances
haA tAruse the brunt of the pionesring
upon hin Instead of dividinG IL amoaG
several. - had planned
He ha1 reason to take pride il the
fact that be had betteHed the Italian
record BY degree and . quarter and
bad coversd distance equal to the
satire distance of the Italian expedi-
tioa from Franz Josefs land to Caxni's
fArtheot north
had given Bartlett this position and
post of honor In command of my
fourth ed last supporting party. and
for TIVE reasons: fiFst. because Of his
magnificent handling of the Roosevelt:
second. because he had cheerfully stood
bstveea me and many trihinS annoy
ancs0 On the expeditions.
Thea there was a third reason. IL
seemed to me appropriate in view of
the uagnihcent British record Of arc
tic work. covering three centuries, that
IL should be British subject who
could boast that. next to an American.
he had bssn nearest the pole.
lsst Struggle at HanA.
With the disappearance Of Bartlett
turned to the problem before me- This
was that for which had worked for q
years. for which ! had lived the simple
life: for which had conserved all my
energy ON the upward trip: for which
had trained myself a. for . race, crush
Ing down every worry about success.
In spite Of my years. felt in trim
at for the demands of the coming days
and eager to be on the trail.
A. for my party. my equipment. and
my supplies. l was In shape beyond my
most sansuine dreams Of earliest years.
Ny party might be regarded as an
ideal. which had now come to realization
-as loyal and responsive to my will As
the Angers Of my right hand.
Party Ideal for Effort.
Four OF them possess the technique Of
dogs. sledges. ice and cold as their heri-
tase. Two Of them. Hansen and ootam.
Wers my companions to the farthest point
three years before. Two others. Eginwuk
and Sigioo. were in Clark's division.
which had such q narrow escape At that
time. and now were willing to 60 any
where with my immediate party. and
willing to risk themselves again In any
supporting party.
nsver served before In any expedition.
but who was. II possible. even more
willing and eager than the others for
the princsay gifts-a boat. q rife. a shot
gun, ammunition. knives. etc, which
had promised to each of them who
reached ths pole with me: for he knew
that these riches would enable him to
wrest from q stubborn father the girl
whose image filled his hot young heart.
Mad Conf3d0neo In Him.
All had blind confidence 80 long AZ
I was with them. and gave no thought
for the morrow. sure that whatever hap
psned I should somehow get them back
to land. But l dealt with the party
equally. I recognized that all Its i'm
pace I set It would make good. II any
one played out. would stop for . short
time.
had no fault to nnd with the condi-
tons. Ny dogs were the best. the pick
OF LIZ with which we left Columbia. A.
most all were powerful. males. hard "a
nails. In good flesh. but without a super
nuous ounce. and, what was better yet.
they were all In good spirits.
My sledges. now that the repairs were
completed. were In good condition. My
supplies were ample for 10 days. and.
with the reserve represented by the dogs
themselves. could be made to last so.
His Program Planned.
Pacing back and forth in tn ice of the
pressure ridge where the igloos were
built. while my men got their loads
ready for the next marches. l settled on
my program. decided l should strain
every nerve to make fve marches of Is
miles each. crowding these marches in
such a way ~ to bring us to the end of
the nth long enough before noon to per-
init the immediate taking of an observa-
ton for latitude.
Weather and leads permitting. be-
lieved l could do this. II my proposed
distances were cut down by any chance
l had two means in reserve for making
up the deficit:
First-To make the last march a forced
one. stopping to mako tea and rest the
dogs. but not to sleep.
Second-At the end OF the nth march
to make 4 forced march with a light
sledge. = double team of dogs. and one
camp.
Sees Danger In Gale.
Underlying all these calculations was q
recognition Of the ever present neiehbor
hood of open leads and impossible water.
and the knowledge that a 4-hour gale
would knock all my plans into a cooked
hat. and even put US in imminent peril.
At a little after midnight of April I.
after few hours Of sound sleep. I hit
the trail. leaving the others to break
up camp and follow.
AS climbed ths pressure ridge back
Of our igloos set another hole in my
belt. the third since I started. Every
man and do9 Of us was lean and nat
beilied as 4 board and as hard.
Conditions Al Favorable.
II was \ dne morning. The wind Of
the last two days had subsidized. and the
going was the best and most equable
of any l had had yet. The foes were
large and old. and clear. and were sur
rounded by pressure ridges. some of
which were almost stupendous.
The biggest Of them. however. were
easily negotiated. either through some
crevice or up some huge brink. l set
a good pace for about ten hours.
Twenty five miles took me well be-
yond the eighty-eighth parallel.
While l was building my igloos 4
long lead forward by the east and
southwest Of US at a distance of a few
miles.
Travel Was Easy.
A few hours sleep and we were on
the trail again. As the going was now
practically horizontal. we were un-
hampered and could travel as long as
we pleased and sleep as little as we