CHAPTER XV 
THE pole! 
r^ ATTAIN BARTLETT and his two 
^-^ boys had commenced their return jour- 
ney, and the main column, depleted to its final 
strength, started northward. We were six: 
Peary, the commander, the Esquimos, Ootah, 
Egingwah, Seegloo and Ooqueah, and myself. 
Day and night were the same. My 
thoughts were on the going and getting for- 
ward, and on nothing else. The wind was 
from the southeast, and seemed to push us on, 
and the sun was at our backs, a ball of livid 
fire, rolhng his way above the horizon in never- 
ending day. 
The Captain had gone. Commander Peary 
and I were alone (save for the four Es- 
quimos), the same as we had been so often 
in the past years, and as we looked at each 
other we realized our position and we knew 
without speaking that the time had come for 
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