16 THENORTHPOLE 



Repairs and changes in the Roosevelt had exhausted 

 all the funds in the Club's treasury. We still needed 

 the money for purchase of supplies and equipment, 

 pay of crew, and running expenses. Mr. Jesup was 

 gone; the country had not recovered from the finan- 

 cial crash of the previous fall; every one was poor. 



Then from this lowest ebb the tide turned. Mrs. 

 Jesup, in the midst of her distracting grief, sent a 

 munificent check which enabled us to order essential 

 items of special supplies and equipment which re- 

 quired time for preparation. 



General Thomas H. Hubbard accepted the presi- 

 dency of the Club, and added a second large check to 

 his already generous contribution. Henry Parish, 

 Anton A. Raven, Herbert L. Bridgman — the "Old 

 Guard" of the Club — who had stood shoulder to 

 shoulder with Mr. Jesup from the inception of the 

 organization, stood firm now to keep the organization 

 of the Club intact; other men came forward, and the 

 crisis was past. But the money still came hard. It 

 was the subject of my every waking thought; and even 

 in sleep it would not let me rest, but followed with 

 mocking and elusive dreams. It was a dogged, dull, 

 desperate time, with the hopes of my whole life rising 

 and falling day by day. 



Then came an unexpected rift in the clouds, the 

 receipt of a very friendly letter from Mr. Zenas Crane, 

 the great paper manufacturer, of Massachusetts, who 

 had contributed to a previous expedition, but whom I 

 had never met. Mr. Crane wrote that he was deeply 

 interested; that the project was one which should have 

 the support of every one who cared for big things and 



