THE POLE! 
of the "Farthests" of its brave 
Dearer, i2J^A left with the records in the cairns, 
as mute but eloquent witnesses of his achieve- 
ments. At the North Pole a diagonal strip 
running from the upper left to the lower right 
corner was cut and this precious strip, together 
with a brief record, was placed in an empty 
tin, sealed up and buried in the ice, as a record 
for all time. 
Commander Peary also had another Amer- 
ican flag, sewn on a white ground, and it was 
the emblem of the "Daughters of the Revolu- 
tion Peace Society"; he also had and flew the 
emblem of the Navy League, and the emblems 
of a couple of college fraternities of which 
he was a member. 
It was about ten or ten-thirty a. m., on the 
7th of April, 1909, that the Commander gave 
the order to build a snow-shield to protect him 
from the flying drift of the surface-snow. I 
knew that he was about to take an observation, 
and while we worked I was nervously appre- 
hensive, for I felt that the end of our journey 
had come. When we handed him the pan of 
mercury the hour was within a very few" min- 
utes of noon. Laying flat on his stomach, he 
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