PEARY CROSSES GREENLAND 149 



Leaving Lee behind to care for the dogs, Peary and Henson 

 set out to make their way down the sharp ice slope to the land, which 

 lay at a level nearly a mile lower and many miles distant. It was 

 midnight when they started, though the sun was shining as though 

 it were midday. Down they went, snow beginning to fall as they 

 advanced and snow-covered crevasses giving way under their feet. 

 They saved themselves from sinking into them by throwing them- 

 selves flat on their faces whenever they felt the snow give way under 

 their feet. 



When the bare rocks at length were reached it was still worse, 

 for the sharp stones cut through their shoes, wounding their feet 

 so badly that they were glad to get back to the ice and snow. Worn 

 out with the effort, they threw themselves down for an hour or two 

 of sleep. Then, waking, they struggled on as before until, after 

 twenty-five miles of fruitless wandering, they were forced to return 

 empty-handed to the camp. The experience was rnuch like that 

 which Peary had gone through in the same vicinity three years 

 before. It took them ten hours to reach the camp, where they had 

 only a tale of bad news for the waiting Lee. 



Retreat was suicidal. They must go forward and seek food. 

 The next day the three of them, with their nine remaining dogs, 

 made their way down the ice-slope until checked by a severe storm 

 of wind and snow, which kept up for two days. When it was over 

 Peary and Henson set out again, once more leaving Lee behind, the 

 dogs going with them and dragging a sledge with four days' half 

 rations. For twelve hours they pressed on without seeing a trace 

 of animal life. 



For several miles onward they went and Peary, who was in the 

 lead, eagerly called to Matt to leave the dogs and bring a gun. He 

 had found a fresh hare track and followed the white creature to its 

 lair. Matt, though an excellent shot, was so unnerved that he fired 

 twice without hitting the fluffy, squatting animal. The third shot 

 brought it down, and the half famished men devoured the hare to 

 the last morsel. It was their first full meal for nearly forty days. 



