CHAPTER XIV 



IN WINTER QUARTERS 



WHEN the removal of supplies had lightened 

 the Roosevelt so much that Bartlett got 

 her considerably farther in shore, she lay 

 with her nose pointing almost true north. It cheered 

 us, for this was her constant habit. It seemed almost 

 like the purpose of a living creature. Whenever on the 

 upward voyage — either this time or on her first trip 

 in 1905 — the ship was beset in the ice so that we 

 lost control of her, she always swung around of her 

 own accord and pointed north. When twisting through 

 the ice, if we got caught when the ship was headed 

 east or west, it was only a little while before the pres- 

 sure would swing her round till once more she looked 

 northward. Even on the return journey, in 1906, 

 it was the same — as if the ship realized she had not 

 accomplished her purpose and wanted to go back. 

 The sailors noticed it, and used to talk about it. 

 They said the Roosevelt was not satisfied, that she 

 knew she had not done her work. 



When we got the vessel as near the shore as pos- 

 sible, the ship's people began to make her ready for the 

 winter. The engine-room force was busy blowing down 

 the boilers, putting the machinery out of commission, 

 removing every drop of water from the pipes and 

 elbows so the cold of winter should not burst them; 



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