344 NEAREST THE POLE 



I quote from my Journal: 



April 2ist. — The game is off. My dream of sixteen 

 years is ended. It cleared during the night and we got 

 under way this morning, Deep snow. Two small old 

 floes. Then came another region of old rubble and 

 deep snow. A survey from the top of a pinnacleshowed 

 this extending north, east and west, as far as could be 

 seen. The two old floes, over which we had just come, 

 are the only ones in sight. It is impracticable and I 

 gave the order to camp. I have made the best fight, 

 I knew. I believe it has been a good one. But I 

 cannot accomplish the impossible. 



A few hours after we halted there came from the ice 

 to the north a sound like that made by a heavy surf, 

 and it continued during our stay at this camp. Evi- 

 dently the floes in that direction were crushing together 

 under the influence of the wind, or what was, perhaps, 

 more probable, from the long continuation of the noise, 

 the entire pack was in slow motion to the east. A 

 clear day enabled me to get observations which showed 

 my latitude to be 84° 17' 27'' N., magnetic varia- 

 tion, 99° west. I took some photographs of the 

 camp, climbed and floundered through the broken 

 fragments and waist-deep snow for a few hundred 

 yards north of the camp, gave the dogs a double ration, 

 then turned in to sleep, if possible, for a few hours 

 preparatory to returning. 



We started on our return soon after midnight of the 

 21st. It was very thick, with wind from the west and 

 snowing heavily. I hurried our departure in order to 



