114 XEW LAND. 



which, judging from all the signs, was the rigging of a ship. These 

 waters are not swarming with craft, so we felt pretty certain that 

 what we saw was the " Windward." 



'So on we started again, still over good ice. We passed 

 another igdloo, but had not time to stop. On we went con- 

 tinuously, but about two o'clock Kolotengva's dogs slackened 

 speed ; they were certainly very tired. The snow was now deeper, 

 and our flat-runnered sledges ran very much more easily than the 

 Eskimo sledge, so I made an attempt at driving first ; but still we 

 went slower than we liked, for we wished to reach our destination 

 that evening. I therefore changed sledges with Kolotengva, and 

 let him drive first. This answered capitally for a while, but then 

 the ice became more uneven, and the snow deeper. We had now 

 left the flat ice and got on to some old floes. The " Windward " we 

 saw only now and then, but always nearer. The snow was any- 

 thing but bad on these old floes, for the track which we followed 

 had been pretty well trodden down, from the comparatively large 

 amount of traffic which had gone over it. 



' We passed a third igdloo, and here Kolotengva stopped 

 whether it was from motives of politeness, or a misunder- 

 standing of my wish to keep our dogs away from the "Wind- 

 ward" dogs, I know not, but certain it is that I now drove 

 first, very successfully, and that the dogs rapidly neared the ship. 

 We saw two men coming to meet us to judge by his clothes, one 

 of them was a stoker, while the other was an Eskimo. I there- 

 fore stopped the caravan and tied up the dogs, about a thousand 

 yards from the " Windward." I shook hands with the " stoker," and 

 asked if I might see Peary. It was about four, or later, in the 

 afternoon. 



'I was shown through a sailcloth passage to a little snow- 

 covered house on deck, and, knocking at a door, was answered by 

 a loud " Come in." I entered the cabin, and at once recognized 

 Lieutenant Peary, who was lying in his berth ; and thus I had 

 immediate proof that my surmises of what Kolotengva had been 

 talking about were correct in at least one particular. 



' Lieutenant Peary asked me to sit down, and I proceeded to 

 state the reason for my visit. He thanked me for the others' 



