130 THE BATTLE OF THE HEROES 



its representatives have brought such a great honor home. It is a v^onderful 

 triumph for American determination, grit, and physical endurance and skill. 



"It would be just as impossible for Peary to forge records and data as it 

 would for Dr. Cook. There should be no skepticism because the men report 

 their success with such a short interval between. Each was determined to do 

 or die in the last expedition and Peary deserves as much credit for succeeding 



as does Cook. 



"All hail to the gallant commander, again I say. I rejoice over his success 

 and that it is to the credit of this nation that two of our intrepid explorers 

 have been the only ones to reach the long sought for goal." 



WHERE PEARY CORROBORATES COOK. 



The question whether Cook or Peary discovered the North Pole may never 

 be settled. It bids fair to become one of history's conundrums and to remain 

 a matter of one man's word against another's. • 



Peary has now told the detailed story of his dash to the pole. In read- 

 ing it one can not escape the surprising fact that it tends to corroborate 

 Cook's narrative in several particulars. 



The Arctic sharps and wiseacres doubted Cook when he said he covered 

 fifteen miles a day. They doubted him when he spoke of "purple snows" 

 and "milling ice." They doubted him because he took no soundings of the 

 sub-polar sea. They doubted him because he said he had pressed toward 

 the pole in winter. They doubted him because there was no white man with 

 him — only two Eskimos who knew nothing of latitude and longtitude. They 

 doubted him because he brought out only the records of his own observations 

 and reckonings to prove his word. 



So much for Cook. Now what of Peary ? 



Peary was the only white man of his party to reach the pole. He was 

 accompanied by four Eskimos and Matt Henson, his negro body servant. He 

 alone made observations and reckonings at the pole. None of the men with 

 him knew anything about determining latitude or longtitude. They could not 

 have known they had reached the pole unless Peary had told them. Like 

 Cook, Peary brought back practically his own word alone to support his 

 claim that he had attained the earth's apex. 



When we come to rate travel. Cook's fifteen miles a day seems modest in 

 comparison with the distance Peary covered. When near the eighty-eighth 

 parallel Peary decided to attempt to reach the pole in five days' marches. 



