296 THE CONQUEST OF THE NORTH POLE 



The season was now so far advanced that Peary abandoned 

 the idea of taking the supplies farther until the spring. 



On 31st October a large wave caused by a huge iceberg 

 from the Bowdoin Glacier burst up through the solid ice 

 near the shore, rolled the steam-launch over and over, and 

 stove it in ; dashed the whale-boat a hundred yards up 

 the valley, and ruined it ; then, receding, carried away all 

 the oil-barrels. It had been Peary's intention to put up 

 an electric-light plant, but the loss of the oil rendered this 

 impracticable. 



While the ice-cap work was going on, Entrikin was 

 busy hunting deer, in which he was most successful. In 

 two hunts he obtained no less than sixty animals. 



The long sunless winter had now begun, but the party 

 were still kept at work. Much in the way of Inland Ice 

 equipment had to be got ready, and various sledge-journeys 

 were made for dog-food. About 700 miles were travelled, 

 and some 3000 lb. of dog-meat brought to the Lodge, and 

 yet no member of the party suffered any great discomfort. 

 These journeys were made in the moonlight. 



The sun made its appearance on the 18th February 

 1894, and on this day Lee, with two Eskimo and a team 

 of dogs, set out for the cache on the Inland Ice. Lee, 

 unfortunately, lost his way during a storm, and after 

 wandering about for a night and a day, reached the Lodge 

 in an exhausted condition and with a frozen toe. This 

 mishap disarranged Peary's plans. He had intended to 

 start from the cache on 1st March. Lee was to free the 

 cache from the winter's snows, bag the pemmican, and 

 construct snow igloos. The delay necessitated a further 

 supply of dog-meat, which had to be hauled a distance of 

 at least 50 miles. 



On the 6th March eight members of the party, with 

 five Eskimo and some eighty dogs, started for the ice-cap. 

 Next day Peary left with two Eskimo carrying several 



