ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 127 



Dr. Cook, who formed one of the party, immediately set the 

 limb; but the sufferer refused to return home in the return voyage 

 of the ship, and when, a few days later, the "Kite" reached Mc- 

 Cormick Bay, he was carried ashore strapped to a plank. 



The material for a comfortably sized house was part of the 

 outfit of the expedition, and this was in course of erection the day 

 that Lieutenant Peary was landed. For the accommodation of 

 himself and wife, a tent was put up behind the half-completed house, 

 and, as a high wind arose, the remainder of the party returned on 

 board the "Kite." 



As the hours passed away the wind became stronger. The tent 

 swayed to and fro, and Mrs. Peary, as she sat beside her invalid 

 and sleeping husband, realized what it was to be lonely and helpless. 

 She and her husband were the only people on shore for miles; her 

 husband was unable to move, and she was without even a revolver 

 with which to defend herself. What, she asked herself, would be 

 the result if a bear came into the tent? She could not make the 

 people on board the "Kite" hear, and she was without a weapon. 

 Though throughout the stay in the north Mrs. Peary proved herself 

 not only to be a woman of strong nerve and self-reliance, but also 

 an excellent shot with either gun, rifle, or revolver, yet it was as 

 much as she could stand when her anxious ears caught the sound 

 of heavy breathing outside the tent. 



For a time she sat still, fearing to disturb her husband, until 

 the continuance of the sound compelled her to look out. A school 

 of white whales were playing close inshore, and it was the noise of 

 their blowing, softened by the wind, which had so disturbed her. 

 But so self-possessed was she over it that her husband did not know, 

 till long afterwards the anxiety she had experienced during the first, 

 night she spent on the "Greenland shore. 



The following day rapid progress was made with the house, 

 and some of the party stayed on shore for the night, so that there 

 was always some one within call of the invalid's tent until the house 



