CHAPTER XXII 



ESSENTIALS THAT BROUGHT SUCCESS 



SOMETHING has already been said regarding the 

 fact that our journey to the North Pole was no 

 haphazard, hit or miss "dash." It was not 

 really a "dash" at all. Perhaps it may properly be 

 described as a "drive" — in the sense that when the 

 sledge journey got under way we pressed forward with 

 a speed at times almost breathless. But nothing was 

 done impulsively. Everything was done in accordance 

 with a scheme long contemplated and plotted out in 

 advance with every possible care. 



The source of our success was a carefully planned 

 system, mathematically demonstrated. Everything 

 that could be controlled was controlled, and the indeter- 

 minate factors of storms, open leads and accidents to 

 men, dogs and sledges, were taken into consideration 

 in the percentage of probabilities and provided for as 

 far as possible. Sledges would break and dogs would 

 fall by the way, of course; but we could generally make 

 one sledge out of two broken ones, and the gradual 

 depletion of the dogs was involved in my calculations. 

 The so-called "Peary system" is too complex 

 to be covered in a paragraph, and involves too many 

 technical details to be outlined fully in any popular 

 narrative. But the main points of it are about as 

 follows: 



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