CHAPTER II 
OFF FOR THE POLE HOW THE OTHER EXPLOR- 
ERS LOOKED THE LAMB-LIKE ESQUIMOS 
^ARRIVAL AT ETAH 
JULY 6, 1908: We're off! For a year 
^ and a half I have waited for this order, 
and now we have cast off. The shouting and 
the tumult ceases, * the din of whistles, bells, 
and throats dies out, and once again the long, 
slow surge of the ocean hits the good ship that 
we have embarked in. It was at one-thirty 
p. M. to-day that I saw the last hawse-line cast 
adrift, and felt the throb of the engines of our 
own ship. Chief Wardwell is on the job, and 
from now on it is due north. 
Oyster Bay, Long Island Sound: We are 
expecting President Roosevelt. The ship has 
been named in his honor and has already made 
one voyage towards the North Pole, farther 
north than any ship has ever made. 
July 7 : At anchor, the soft wooded hills of 
15 
