CHAPTER III 
FINDING OF RUDOLPH FRANKE — WHITNEY 
LANDED TRADING AND COALING 
FIGHTING THE ICE-PACKS 
A T Etah we take on the final load of coal 
^^ from the Erik and the other supplies she 
has for us, and from now on it will be farewell 
to all the world ; we will be alone with our com- 
pany, and our efforts will be towards the north 
and our evasive goal. 
At Etah, on going ashore, we were met by 
the most hopelessly dirty, unkempt, filth-Ut- 
tered human being any of us had ever seen, 
or could ever have imagined; a white man with 
long matted hair and beard, who could speak 
very little English and that only between 
cries, whimperings, and whines, and whose legs 
were swollen out of all shape from the scurvy. 
He was Rudolph Franke and had been left 
here the year before by Dr. F. A. Cook, an 
old acquaintance of mine, who had been a 
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