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"What training is necessary for the work?" somebody asked 

 the Commander. 



"One can train for Arctic exploration as one would train for a 

 prize fight," was the reply. "The training consists of good habits, 

 with sound, healthy body as a basis to work on. One must be sound 

 of wind and limb, to use the horseman's phrase, and he must not be 

 a quitter. That's the kind of training that finds the Pole." 



Reverting to the program which he had followed, Commander 

 Peary said: 



"After leaving the ship, every five or six marches, depending 

 on the distance covered, a supporting party would be turned back, 

 the best Eskimos and sledges continuing forward with the strongest 

 men. In going up each man has a loaded sledge, while the returning 

 men have one sledge, the other three being broken up to repair the 

 broken sledges or the ones that are discarded. This was done at the 

 end of the seventh, twelfth, seventeenth, and twenty-second marches, 

 a march, going up, consisting of twelve to sixteen hours, and return- 

 ing eight to twelve hours. 



"On the final dash from 87.57 degrees north latitude to 90 

 degrees. It took five men, five sledges, and forty dogs. The five 

 sledges were the pick of twenty-five which had started from the ship, 

 and these five had been practically rebuilt. We had the forty best 

 dogs and the four best Eskimos, three of whom had been on previous 

 expeditions with me. They knew the ropes; they knew how to 

 handle the sledges, how to overcome open leads. 



"Did the Eskimos express any emotion on reaching the Pole?" 

 Commander Peary was asked. 



"Not at that time," he replied, "but when we got back to the 

 ice fringe of the Cape Columbia, when they knew there was no 

 more leads to cross, no more broken ice to be fought, you would 

 have thought they had all gone crazy." 



"Well, how did you feel, Commander?" asked one interviewer. 

 Commander Peary rose from his seat. He drew himself up to his 



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