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turning it was a delight to receive the cheers of other nations. 

 But there is no human ecstasy so great as that which comes from 

 the hearts of one's own people. 



"If I talked for an hour I could not adequately express a suit- 

 able appreciation of this momentous welcome. To feel this cor- 

 diality for one moment is to dispel all the discomforts of the 

 Arctic quest." 



A few minutes later he went down to the big room of the club- 

 house and stood at the angle of a narrow roped-off lane. Then 

 the United Singers were allowed to file past him, but he refrained 

 from shaking any hands except those of the most insistent. 



"Just salute Dr. Cook and pass on!" was what the members of 

 the club were shouting. Sometimes only one would sing out this 

 chorus and at other times there would be as many as ten directing 

 the movements of those who were being received. 



Dr. Cook by this time was showing the effects of the day of ex- 

 citement. Every now and then he passed his hands over his face 

 and rubbed his eyes and then returned again to the task of smil- 

 ing. One man out of ten refused to be satisfied with a bow and 

 stood stockstill in front of the explorer until he took his hands 

 from behind his back and turned over the right one to the mercies 

 of the zealous admirer. 



It was a few minutes after 9.30 that the committee allowed the 

 explorer to telephone to some of the friends who had sent him 

 messages, and then they announced very ostentatiously that Dr. 

 Cook was going to be allowed to rest for a while. At the same 

 time an automobile horn sounded at the side entrance of the club- 

 house and those who were wise jumped around to this door in 

 time to see him bundled into an automobile with his wife and Sec- 

 retary Weber, of the club. 



The machine, attended by motorcycle policemen, hurried Dr. 

 Cook to the Waldorf-Astoria, where Mrs. Cook had engaged 

 rooms for the explorer, herself and the children some days before. 



