DR. COOK 
Whitney was an Esquimo; but within one 
hour, he had a bath, a shave, and a hair-cut, 
and was the same mild-mannered gentleman 
that we had left there in the fall. He had 
gratified his ambitions in shooting musk- 
oxen, but he had not killed a single polar 
bear. 
At Etah there were two boys, Etookahshoo 
and Ahpellah, boys about sixteen or seven- 
teen years old, who had been with Dr. Cook 
for a year, or ever since he had crossed the 
channel to EUesmere Land and returned 
again. These boys are the two he claims ac- 
companied him to the North Pole. To us, 
up there at Etah, such a story was so ridic- 
ulous and absurd that we simply laughed at 
it. We knew Dr. Cook and his abilities; he 
had been the surgeon on two of Peary's ex- 
peditions and, aside from his medical ability, 
we had no faith in him whatever. He was 
not even good for a day's work, and the idea 
of his making such an astounding claim as 
having reached the Pole was so ludicrous that, 
after our laugh, we dropped the matter 
altogether. 
On account of the world-wide controversy 
176 
