NEAREST THE POLE 



CHAPTER I 



FROM NEW YORK TO ETAH 



WHEN an expedition starts for distant and 

 mysterious regions for an uncertain length of 

 time, and particularly when its objective point is the 

 frozen heart of the Arctic Circle, it is natural that 

 those who know and are interested in its objects and 

 plans should turn with interest to its personnel and 

 its surroundings and environment while en route to the 

 scene of action. 



The opening scenes of an Arctic voyage are com- 

 paratively familiar to those conversant with Arctic 

 literature. The main features of the play are much the 

 same: A crowded and littered ship, regrets at leaving, 

 confusion, and, if the weather be decent, an effort to get 

 into shape, or, if the weather be bad, a surrender by most 

 of the party to abject misery in cramped quarters. In 

 the present instance, some of these features were en- 

 tirely absent, and others appeared only in a mild form. 



Experience and a roomy ship almost completely 

 obviated the lumbering of the decks, beyond the in- 

 evitable and inseparable feature of the coal, a portion 

 of which must at first always be carried on deck. 



Such few things as were dumped on deck at the last 



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