GOOD BY TO THE POLE 307 



smoked goggles we should have suffered from snow- 

 blindness. Despite the expectation of trouble with 

 which we began this march, we were agreeably dis- 

 appointed. On the upward journey, all this region 

 had been covered with young ice, and we thought 

 it reasonable to expect open water here, or at the best 

 that the trail would have been obliterated; but there 

 had not been enough movement of the ice to break 

 the trail. So far there had been no lateral — east and 

 west — movement of the ice. This was the great, for- 

 tunate, natural feature of the home trip, and the 

 principal reason why we had so little trouble. We 

 stopped for lunch at the "lead" igloos, and as we 

 finished our meal the ice opened behind us. We had 

 crossed just in time. Here we noticed some fox 

 tracks that had just been made. The animal was 

 probably disturbed by our approach. These are the 

 most northerly animal tracks ever seen. 



Inspirited by our good fortune, we pressed on again, 

 completing two marches, and when we camped were 

 very near the 87th parallel. The entry that I made in 

 my diary that night is perhaps worth quoting: "Hope 

 to reach the Marvin return igloo to-morrow. I shall be 

 glad when we get there onto the big ice again. This 

 region here was open water as late as February and 

 early March and is now covered with young ice which 

 is extremely unreliable as a means of return. A few 

 hours of a brisk wind, east, west, or south, would make 

 this entire region open water for from fifty to sixty 

 miles north and south and an unknown extent east 

 and west. Only calm weather or a northerly wind 

 keeps it practicable." 



