t 



THE STORY OF PEARY'S GREAT EXPLOIT 57 



earning the whereabouts of Marvin and Borup, who failed to come 

 up at the expected time and who had with them the supply of alcohol 

 and oil, indispensable in polar travel. It was three days after the 

 lead was crossed before the missing men reached the camp, they 

 having been delayed by misadventures. Their arrival with the oil 

 and alcohol was, as may be imagined, warmly welcomed. 



On March I4th Dr. Goodsell turned back, in accordance with 

 the original plan, and McMillan, whose foot was badly frost-bitten, 

 was sent back the next day. Thus it went on, day after day, the 

 difficulties of traveling growing less as the distance to the Pole 

 decreased. Borup was the second to turn back with a supporting 

 party, leaving at latitude 85 degrees 23 minutes, while Marvin fol- 

 lowed him on the backward track at 86 degrees 38 minutes, and 

 Bartlett at the eighty-eighth parallel, two degrees from the Pole 

 and higher north than man had ever before been. In each case the 

 supporting party reinforced the supply of those still going forward 



Shortly before Bartlett's departure the explorers passed through 

 the one great danger of their journey, the ice suddenly opening so 

 near their sleeping place as to put them in great peril, while two of 

 their dog teams narrowly escaped being dragged into the water or 

 crushed by grinding ice blocks. Rushing hastily from their igloos, 

 the dogs were hitched to the sledges and their effects drawn at all 

 speed to a safer place. All night and the next day the groaning ice 

 continued to open and close, then the danger passed, all became fair 

 sailing again, and the forward march was resumed. 



After Bartlett's departure about one hundred and forty miles 

 remained to be covered. Peary remained the only white man in the 

 party. With him was his negro servant Henson and four of the 

 Eskimos, the pick of the party, while the dogs taken with him were 

 the best of the pack and the sledges all in good condition and well 

 laden with all things needed. From this time forward all went well, 

 the progress being great, as much as twenty-five miles in a day 

 being covered. It was twilight all the way, the sun appearing above 

 the horizon for only a short time each day. 



