THE BATTLE OF THE HEROES 127 



More and more bitterly raged the controversy, until the two explorers 

 stood in the position of calling each other thieves as well as liars. Each 

 charged the other with making use of supplies intended for the use of one 

 man only. This arose from the fact that both made Etah, Greenland, a base 

 of operations; and their tracks crossed a number of times. One assertion 

 made by Cook's friends was that Peary opened Cook's letters; but this was 

 indignantly denied by Peary and not proven by Cook. 



One interesting story grew out of the matter of supplies. In this connec- 

 tion a Danish physician wrote a letter which made sensational reading for 

 those watching the argument. This letter said : 



"Now that Dr. Cook has gone (from Greenland), I am no longer under 

 any obligation to keep silent, and will exercise my right to publish the story 

 about the house in Annatok, a story which Dr. Cook himself had too much 

 delicacy to relate to the world. I write it according to my memory, in the 

 same manner that Cook in Egedesminde told it to me, and I am fully con- 

 vinced that in no details are my recollections wrong. 



"Dr. Cook had built his house for stores in Annatok, north of Etah, and it 

 was this depot which he started to reach in February, 1909, crossing Smith 

 Sound. It was a pretty large house, the walls being built of heavily filled 

 provision boxes, so that Dr. Cook knew when this important point was reached 

 everything was safe. He had, before the start, arranged with a wealthy 

 young friend named Harry Whitney that he have the right to use the house 

 while hunting musk oxen for sport in the winter of i9o8-'o9. 



"When Dr. Cook and his two Eskimos, exhausted "and half starved, came 

 within a shot's distance of the house in Annatok young Whitney came out to 

 bid him welcome, but inside the house was a stranger, a giant Newfoundland 

 boatswain, on watch. This man had been placed in Dr. Cook^s house by Peary 

 when the latter passed Etah with his ship bound north. 



"Peary had given the boatswain a written order, which commenced with 

 the following words: 'This house belongs to Dr. Frederick A. Cook, but 

 Dr. Cook is long ago dead and there is no use to search after him. Therefore 

 I, Commander Robert E. Peary, install my boatswain in this deserted house.' 



"This paper the boatswain, who could neither read nor write, exhibited to 

 Dr. Cook and the latter took a copy of this wonderful document. 



"Dr. Cook gave me a lively account of how the young millionaire, Mr. 

 Whitney, during the whole winter was treated like a dog by the giant boat- 



