The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-02-10

NORTH POLE AND so TELL TIE
WORLD!
And I gave the hour and the date.
Greenwich time.
Then and there / took my girl In
my arms.
That's the first kiss ever plant
ed on top of the world" I said, and
we all laughed like a trio Of kids.
We were at the pole. but we had
to go back.
We were over open water. Our
flag, fastened on a croSS-bar to =
long, Speared aluminium staff, had
made q perfect descent and pierced
into a large ice cake.
Then. when least expected, when
our feelings ran so high, things be-
gan to happen.
A head wind, such a. we had
never before met, struck US full
force. We nosed the plane down.
ward. The wind tossed ms upward
like a paper ball. It carried US
backward for a full mile, in a few
seconds. We lost sight Of the blimp
momentarily, but we knew 1t was
putting up a desperate fight, too.
We had no time to think Of it.
We put the engine on full force.
but we just managed to move ut
the rate of about a mile or two an
hour. We climbed up three miles,
but the gale was just as bad and
when we went down again We
pitched into thick clouds.
We couldn't fly in that wind and
we couldn't stay in the air.
PEARL" I cried, blanched with
concern for her safety. i've got to
warn you! Hold tight! We're 60
ing to land!"
we landed in a flashing sea. Our
engines stopped and u lights
failed. We saturated wooden blocks
with gasoline and tossed them over
board as signals to the Zeppelin,
for our radio had left Us in the
lurch and we couldn't reach our
stores of rockets.
Every minute we expected the
waves to crush us against the ice
floes and the ice-floes to batter US.
There we were, in q forced land
ing, exactly on the pole, where no
human being, let alone an airplane.
could long survive.
wen sink in ten mirutes," I
yelled, as water flooded the fuse
LACE. "The lifebelts!"
We put on life-preservers. We TIED
ourselves together with a long, stout
rope, much as mountain climbers
do when attempting q dangerous
ascent.
A huge berg drifted toward us and
Bert got an idea. Pulling out our
graphic, he threw the irons and
they caught. He tested them with
his full length. They held.
"Come on" he yelled.
l piled Pearl on my back, grabbed
the cable and climbed on the Ice
berg. Bert followed in a scramble.
and none too soon. The Polar Star
sank like a lcadcn bird.
All this time we heard the motors
of the Yep. There was no doubt
that Goodmaster realized what had
happened to us. He was, unques-
t:.o-,ably, making circles around us.
Ec,t he could not see us, mol could
We make him hear rs.
If ever three people prayed for
clouds to break and fog to clear, we
did as we chung on the slippery sur
face of that floating block of peren-
NAL ice. We climbed higher and
found a crevice c~uriously carved by
the water, sufficiently roomy to &C.
commodate all three, where the
wind was less severe and we were
beyond the reach of the waves. For
the moment we were in compare
tive safety.
Then Pearl uttered a terrified
scream and Bert and / shot cur
eyes in the direction in which she
was looking. Directly overhead, as
startled as ourselves, was a power
full polar bear.
Good God!" groaned Bert. "We'u
be mauled to death!"