CHAPTER XI 



Europe Gives Honor to Dr. Cook 



SEPTEMBER 4, 1909, will long be a memorable day to the 

 inhabitants of Copenhagen, Denmark. Brief interviews and 

 laconic wireless telegrams had announced that Dr. Cook 

 would land that day, and the eyes of the world were turned toward 

 Denmark, impatient for news of the great discovery and the man 

 who had made it. 



Preparations on a regal scale had been going on since the 

 receipt of the news. The steamer "Hans Egede," on which the 

 intrepid explorer was returning from the frozen North, had passed 

 Cape Skagen, the northern extremity of Denmark, on the 3d, and 

 was due at her dock the next morning. An enterprising corre- 

 spondent secured an interview with Dr. Cook on board ship, and 

 even greater interest was aroused by the statement of the returning 

 explorer that he would submit evidence 'which would prove beyond 

 a doubt that he had attained the goal sought for so many years at 

 such a fearful cost in lives, suffering and money. Further brief 

 statements of conditions at and near the Pole whetted the appetites 

 of the waiting scientists. Copenhagen was filled with visitors and 

 draped with flags and bunting in honor of the occasion, and all the 

 carriages in the city had been engaged to take the crowds down to 

 the pier to meet the incoming hero. 



At 9.30 o'clock on the morning of the 4th Dr. Cook landed 

 from the "Hans Egede" amid a scene of indescribable enthusiasm, 

 in which the King of Denmark, the Queen, princes, scientific men 

 of world-wide reputation, the American Minister, scores of Amer- 



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