WE BREAK ALL RECORDS 259 



had believed for years that this thing could be done 

 and that it was my destiny to do it, but I always 

 reminded myself that many a man had felt thus about 

 some dearly wished achievement, only to fail in the 

 end. 



When I awoke the following day, March 28, the sky 

 was brilliantly clear; but ahead of us there was a thick, 

 smoky, ominous haze drifting low over the ice, and a 

 bitter northeast wind, which, in the orthography of the 

 Arctic, plainly spelled open water. Did this mean 

 failure again? No man could say. Bartlett had, 

 of course, left camp and taken to the trail again long 

 before I and the men of my division were awake. 

 This was in accordance with my general plan, previ- 

 ously outlined, that the pioneer division should be trav- 

 eling while the main division slept, and vice versa, so 

 that the two divisions might be in communication 

 every day. 



After traveling at a good rate for six hours along 

 Bartlett's trail, we came upon his camp beside a 

 wide lead, with a dense, black, watery sky to the north- 

 west, north, and northeast, and beneath it the smoky 

 fog which we had been facing all day long. In order 

 not to disturb Bartlett, we camped a hundred yards 

 distant, put up our igloos as quietly as possible, and 

 turned in, after our usual supper of pemmican, biscuit, 

 and tea. We had made some twelve miles over much 

 better going than that of the last few marches and on 

 a nearly direct line over large floes and young ice. 



I was just dropping off to sleep when I heard the 

 ice creaking and groaning close by the igloo, but as 

 the commotion was not excessive, nor of long duration, 



