THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



CHAPTER I. 



IT is a comparatively 

 easy matter to organize an 

 Arctic expedition in the 

 city of New York, but it 

 is quite another thing to 

 get the expedition well 

 into the Arctic regions 

 and bring it safely home 

 again. This requires a 

 happy combination of cir- 

 cumstances, which the 



uninitiated are not apt to take into consideration. There was 

 probably not an individual who had joined "Dr. Cook's 

 Arctic Expedition of 1894 " who for a moment doubted that 

 the expedition would really be in Melville Bay on the 

 scheduled time, and a connection with Lieutenant Peary and 

 his party was looked upon as a matter of course. But, as 

 Robbie Burns aptly puts it : 



" The best laid schemes o' mice and men 

 Gang aft agley." 



Quite a number of mice, as well, indeed, as their larger 

 cousins the rats, had laid their plans to accompany the expe- 

 dition; though to the credit of some, be it said, that with wise 

 forethought they deserted the ship on the very day of sailing, 



