120 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



side of the controversy they were to take, they were so no longer 

 They assured me that Charles Thomsen and Charlie Brooks (the 

 steward on the Alaska) would be with me, and they believed Wil- 

 kins would also. It was known that McConnell, who was just then 

 absent on a trip to Point Barrow, would be on my side when he re- 

 turned. In fact, they felt that as soon as the men really thought 

 things out and came face to face with definite action, they would, 

 probably all decide to obey orders. 



We arrived at Collinson Point just about dinner time. I told 

 the men at once that we would postpone all discussion until eight 

 o'clock, when the evening work was done and everybody could be 

 present. 



When the time for discussion came, I asked Dr. Anderson 

 whether he was taking the position which Louis Olesen had men- 

 tioned to me at Herschel Island: that there were two expeditions, 

 he in command of one still in existence and I in command of the 

 other, now defunct; or whether he was taking the position outlined 

 by O'Neill that he and several of the other men were merely pas- 

 sengers with the expedition and had authority from Ottawa to 

 disobey orders whenever they liked? 



It was Johansen who answered, saying that they considered 

 Dr. Anderson to be in command of that part of the expedition 

 which was left, that I had had authority only over the Karluk, 

 and had none in the expedition at present and had better go home 

 to Ottawa to report the failure of my side of the enterprise. With- 

 out replying to him, I persisted in my inquiries of Dr. Anderson. 



Dr. Anderson eventually answered that my position was anal- 

 ogous to that of certain kings of England who had been undis- 

 putedly kings as long as their conduct was worthy of a king and as 

 long as the people had confidence in them. But when the kings 

 of England had become either insane or criminal they had been 

 deposed and in some cases executed. While he disclaimed any 

 intention of an execution, he thought that I had already shown 

 by what I had done and by the plans which I had announced, 

 especially the much-talked-of "ice trip," that I was either not 

 quite sane or was outlining plans which I had no intention or ■ 

 prospect of carrying out to any useful conclusion, but which would, 

 nevertheless, use up a good deal of the resources of the expedition. 

 He considered himself responsible to the Government for the car- 

 rying out of certain plans of theirs and his, and he considered 

 that he would be unable to carry them out if he acquiesced in 

 mine. My motive in making the journej^ over the ice, he felt 



I 



