PARTIES TURN BACK 
layed the condition of the ice would change, 
for changes come suddenly, and frequently 
without warning. At nine P. m. we camped, 
the Captain having been on the go for fifteen 
hours, and I for thirteen; and we estimated 
that we had a good fourteen miles to our 
credit. 
March 22 was the finest day we had, and it 
was a day of unusual clearness and calm; 
practically no wind and a cloudless sky. The 
fields of ice and snow sparkled and glistened 
and the daylight lasted for the full twenty- 
four hours. It was six a. m. when Eging- 
wah, the Commander's Esquimo courier, 
reached our camp, with the note of command 
and encouragement ; and immediately the Cap- 
tain and I left camp. 
Stretching to the northward was a bril- 
liantly illuminated, level, and slightly drifted 
snow-plain, our imperial highway, presenting 
a spectacle grand and sublime; and we were 
truly grateful and inwardly prayed that this 
condition would last indefinitely. Without 
incident or accident, we marched on for fifteen 
hours, pacing oif mile after mile in our steady 
northing, and at nine p. m. we halted. It was 
109 
