He used the meat which he had left in caches, the oxen and the 

 hares and so forth, which had been killed on his way up. He sub- 

 sisted at times on what he could find. It was only this spring that 

 he was able to get over into the neighborhood of Etah, where there 

 were caches. 



"Now he comes at last to Cape York. He knows that the 

 Danish government sends a ship there to look after its colony and 

 to take calico and merchandise to trade for ivory of the narwhal, 

 eiderdown and blubber. He knows that he can eventually meet 

 that ship. So I suggested to him that he keep stowed away about 

 his clothing in sealskin bags 100 pounds in English gold with which 

 to pay his passage to Copenhagen, and from there to the United 

 States. This he did as he said he would. So, when everything had 

 been arranged and I felt that nothing could go wrong, I resented it 

 a little when I was asked to contribute to a relief expedition which I 

 felt sure that Dr. Cook did not want and felt sure that I did not. 



" 'But how is he going to get home?" Mr. Bridgman has asked. 



" 'The natives/ I replied, 'have gone across that ice for thou- 

 sands, perhaps millions, of years. I do not see why Dr. Cook 

 cannot.' 



" 'Well,' Mr. Bridgman said, 'he might. He certainly has the 

 nerve.' 



"He did. And now for the last objection. How could he induce 

 the natives to go with him to the North Pole and risk their lives? 

 How does anybody induce the Eskimos to do anything? Here was 

 as fully equipped an expedition as ever went to the frozen seas, 

 excepting neither Peary, Dr. Nansen or the Duke of the Abruzzi. 

 It was quietly prepared, that was the only difference. It was 

 peculiarly fitted out with things which were dear to the heart of the 

 Eskimos, and Dr. Cook had enough of them to be liberal. An Eskimo 

 will go anywhere for a gun. One will work all day for a biscuit. 

 How about a box of matches occasionally? I had shipped 10,000 

 boxes of them. A biscuit, a cracker, a bit of tobacco anything like 

 that would bring an Eskimo to your feet. 



