Expect send back Dr. & Eskimos 3 to 5 marches from
here. He should meet you & give you information.

We go straight across this lead (E. S. E.)

There has been no lateral motion of the ice during
7 days. Only open and shut. _Do not camp here._
CROSS THE LEAD. Feed full rations & speed your
dogs.

It is _vital_ you overtake us and give us fuel.

Leaving at 9 A.M., Thursday, Mar. 11.

PEARY.

P.S. On possibility you arrive too late to follow
us, have asked captain take general material from
your bags.

We crossed the lead without trouble, and made a fair march of not less
than twelve miles. This day we crossed seven leads, each being from half
a mile to one mile in width, all covered with barely negotiable young
ice. At this time the various divisions, including Bartlett's, were all
traveling together.

On this march we crossed the 84th parallel. That night the ice was
raftering about our camp with the movement of the tide. The continual
grinding, groaning, and creaking, as the pieces of ice crunched
together, kept up all night long. The noise, however, did not keep me
from sleeping, as our igloos were on a heavy ice-floe, which was not
likely itself to be broken up, most of the ice around it being young and
thin.

[Illustration: ATHLETIC SPORTS AT THE LEAD CAMP]

In the morning it was still clear, and the temperature was down to minus
45 deg.. Again we made a fair march of not less than twelve nautical miles,
crossing in the first half many cracks and narrow leads, and in the
latter half traversing an unbroken series of old floes. I felt confident
that this zone of numerous leads which we had crossed in the last two
marches was the "Big Lead," and was of the opinion that we were now
safely across it.

We hoped that Marvin and Borup, with their men and vital supply of fuel,
would get across the "Big Lead" before we had any more wind; for six
hours of a good fresh breeze would utterly obliterate our trail, by
reason of the movement of the ice, and their search for us in the broad
waste of that white world would have been like the proverbial search for
a needle in a haystack.

[Illustration: PICKAXING A ROAD THROUGH ZONE OF ROUGH ICE]

The following march, on the 13th, was distinctly crisp. When we started
the thermometer was minus 53 deg., the minimum during the night having been
min