SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE PEARY EXPEDITION* 69 



c i '. 



freezes every ten minutes unless you warm it up, and the ends of 

 your fingers by this time are all excoriated from being repeatedly 

 frost-bitten, etc. 



"I went with the captain, who, with three men, was the trail 

 picker. Three marches out I dumped off the load of all my party, 

 and we headed for the land according to orders, some twenty-five 

 miles distant in an air line. The Commander was to leave March 

 ist, and was to give me instructions on meeting the returning party 

 what to bring back. Marvin also was to come back with me. A; 

 heavy wind from the east had gotten in the game the second day 

 out, and faulted the trail, blowing the outside ice away to the west 

 of the inside ice. The result was I missed Peary on my way to the 

 land. After a good deal of lost time the original trail was finally 

 found, and after doubling back some four miles in an unsuccessful 

 attempt to overhaul him I lit out for Columbia because if I went any 

 further after him I'd be unable to make land the same day and so 

 lose valuable time. The march was a 'heller/ about eighteen .hours 

 long, with no time to eat ; the sea ice had drifted from ten to fifteen 

 miles west of where I had left the land ice, and the total distance we 

 covered was not far from forty miles, fully one-half of which I ran. 



"The next day a heavy wind prevented our starting, as we 

 couldn't see the trail. This wind was only in evidence about five 

 miles out to sea, so Marvin, who had been sent back as soon as the 

 Commander had found I'd gone by, managed to reach Columbia 

 late that day. The next day, March 5th, after being held up by a 

 wind for five hours, we got under way, but where the sea ice and 

 the land ice meet there was a stretch of open water about one hun- 

 dred yards wide, extending in either direction as far as the eye could 

 reach. Being shy both of airships, boats, and submarines, and as it 

 was a bit too cold for swimming, there was nothing to do but wait 

 for it to freeze over or be jammed together. This took place six 

 days later. These six days were the longest and most hellish I ever 

 want to see. It isn't the physical side of the game which is bad; it's 



