LAST DAYS AT SHERIDAN 333 



Eskimos, and a boat's crew went ashore. It was 

 there I first heard of the movements of Dr. Frederick 

 Cook during the previous year while absent from 

 Anoratok. We arrived at Etah on the 17th of 

 August. There I learned further details as to the 

 movements of Dr. Cook during his sojourn in that 

 region. 



At Etah we picked up Harry Whitney, who had 

 spent the winter in that neighborhood in arctic hunting. 

 Here, also, we killed some seventy-odd walrus for the 

 Eskimos, whom we distributed at their homes whence 

 we had taken them in the previous summer. 



They were all as children, yet they had served us 

 well. They had, at times, tried our tempers and 

 taxed our patience; but after all they had been 

 faithful and efficient. Moreover, it must not be 

 forgotten that I had known every member of the 

 tribe for nearly a quarter of a century, until I had come 

 to regard them with a kindly and personal interest, 

 which any man must feel with regard to the members 

 of any inferior race who had been accustomed to 

 respect and depend upon him during the greater part 

 of his adult life. We left them all better supplied with 

 the simple necessities of arctic life than they had ever 

 been before, while those who had participated in the 

 sledge journey and the winter and spring work on the 

 northern shore of Grant Land were really so enriched 

 by our gifts that they assumed the importance and 

 standing of arctic millionaires. I knew, of course, 

 that in all probability I should never see them again. 

 This feeling was tempered with the knowledge of 

 success; but it was not without keen regret that I 



