BACK TO LAND AGAIN 323 



and the substitution of inaction in place of incessant 

 effort. I had no energy or ambition for anything. 

 Scarcely could I stop sleeping long enough to eat, or 

 eating long enough to sleep. My ravenous appetite 

 was not the result of hunger or short rations, for we had 

 all had plenty to eat on the return from the Pole. It 

 was merely because none of the ship's food seemed 

 to have the satisfying effect of pemmican, and I could 

 not seem to hold enough to satisfy my appetite. How- 

 ever, I knew better than to gorge myself and compro- 

 mised by eating not much at a time, but at frequent 

 intervals. 



Oddly enough, this time there was no swelling of 

 the feet or ankles and in three or four days we all 

 began to feel like ourselves. Anyone who looks at 

 the contrasted pictures of the Eskimos, taken before 

 and after the sledge trip, will realize, perhaps, some- 

 thing of the physical strain of a journey to the Pole 

 and back, and will read into the day-by-day narrative 

 of our progress all the details of soul-racking labor 

 and exhaustion which at the time we had been obliged 

 stoically to consider as a part of the day's work, in 

 order to win our goal. 



One of the first things done after reaching the ship 

 and bringing our sleep up to date was to reward the 

 Eskimos who had served us so faithfully. They were 

 all fitted out with rifles, shotguns, cartridges, shells, 

 reloading tools, hatchets, knives, and so on, and they 

 behaved like so many children who had just received 

 a boundless supply of toys. Among the things I have 

 given them at various times, none are more important 

 than the telescopes, which enable them to distinguish 



