Evening star., 1929-12-04

who in failure won immortal success.
In his memory and that of his gallant
comrades and In honor of our cousin
and friend, the British Empire, we car
ried with US the British flag.
For a moment there flashed through
my mind the fact that some had at
tempted to start a mild controversy
Empire and the United States as re-
suit of our discoveries.
What a pity there could be such a
controversy! This is a peaceful and
scientific mission trying to extend the
boundaries Of land and knowledge made
by those heroes who gave their lives
here.
If the spirit Of the expedition to-
ward those gallant men and the ma
tion that they represented could be
known and felt. 1t would add its mite
fellowship so vitality important now that
our country has joined with other ma
tions in sincere effort to secure peace
and harmony Of the world.
Big Moment Arrives.
Barrier edge was now about four
hours back. No wonder the boys
thought I was flying beyond the Pole
which was only little more than 800
wind had caused us to take longer than
we had expected. but at last TIE big
moment had come.
That imaginary point-the ver,,' bot
tom Of the world-was, according to my
reckoning, somewhere beneath and
within our view. handed Harold the
following message to radio to our COM
rades at Little America: my calcula-
tions indicate We have reached the vi
cinity of the South Pole. Flying high
for survey. Soon turn north"
Bernt turned the nose of the plane
to she right while I attempted to get
the altitude of the sun with the sextant,
but there was now far too much move
ment of the plane for results. We knew
exactly what the altitude of the sun
should be since the altitude of the
suns center at any moment at the Pole
is equal to the declination of the sun,
which at that time was 81 degrees and
n minutes. The sun circles that point
without any noticeable change in alti-
tude. We flew on to the right for five
or six miles then circled and flew left
for an equal distance and followed our
original line of flight five or six miles
farther.
Wanted to Go so Miles Beyond.
had wanted to go SO miles beyond
we had been a long time In reaching
1t. saw Harolds and Bernt'S anxious
eyes on the gasoline gauges. It wouldn't
be fair to these fellows to go any
farther. We turned the nose of the
plane back toward Little America.
When We reached the place at which
we had turned right, we opened the
trap door and dropped the American
flag. weighted with stone from Ben
npft'Z
spirit OF our gallant comrade and our
country's flag. That little silk flag and
that small stone lie together at the bot
tom OF the world.
We were about $500 feet above the
Pole and the temperature had dropped
to Is degrees below zero. Visibility was
good in most directions. But what was
direction? All directions are north
from the Pole. When we passed over
the Pole we had changed our time a
whole day. Now We had changed 1t
back again.
Must Hit Pass or Fail.
We still had job to do. The winds
were gathering force.
In short time we could see more
patches OF drifting snow beneath us.
We watched the sun compass and drift
indicator like hawks. We must hit
the mountain pass. On and on we
went. Time that seemed long before
crawled now. The first mountains to
the right, which had been clear on the
outward journey, were half covered
with clouds. Mac photographed them
Apparently the storm had just reached
through. Bernt had increased the
motor revolution and the great Cyclone
engine was doing its stuff.
We aimed our course a few degrees
to the right so as to reach the Barrier
more to the eastward than we had left
1t to get better view of Carmen Land
and to obtain survey photographs geo.
graphically Of great importance.
Bernt Sights Entrance Pass.
Suddenly Bernt gave a shout of JOY
A little to our left was the pass we had
come through only partly cloud covered.
and what we took for Axel Heiberg
glacier was almost dead ahead. Clouds
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