rded against
and that, with a fair amount of good fortune, the losing game of nearly
a quarter of a century could be turned into one final, complete success.

It is true that with this conclusion many well informed and intelligent
persons saw fit to differ. But many others shared my views and gave
without stint their sympathy and their help, and now, in the end, one
of my greatest unalloyed pleasures is to know that their confidence,
subjected as it was to many trials, was not misplaced, that their trust,
their belief in me and in the mission to which the best years of my life
have been given, have been abundantly justified.

But while it is true that so far as plan and method are concerned the
discovery of the North Pole may fairly be likened to a game of chess,
there is, of course, this obvious difference: in chess, brains are
matched against brains. In the quest of the Pole it was a struggle of
human brains and persistence against the blind, brute forces of the
elements of primeval matter, acting often under laws and impulses almost
unknown or but little understood by us, and thus many times seemingly
capricious, freaky, not to be foretold with any degree of certainty. For
this reason, while it was possible to plan, before the hour of sailing
from New York, the principal moves of the attack upon the frozen North,
it was not possible to anticipate all of the moves of the adversary. Had
this been possible, my expedition of 1905-1906, which established the
then "farthest north" record of 87 deg. 6', would have reached the Pole. But
everybody familiar with the records of that expedition knows that its
complete success was frustrated by one of those unforeseen moves of our
great adversary--in that a season of unusually violent and continued
winds disrupted the polar pack, separating me from my supporting
parties, with insufficient supplies, so that, when almost within
striking distance of the goal, it was necessary to turn back because of
the imminent peril of starvation. When victory seemed at last almost
within reach, I was blocked by a move which could not possibly have been
foreseen, and which, when I encountered it, I was helpless to meet. And,
as is well known, I and those with me were not only checkmated but very
nearly lost our lives as well.

But all that is now as a tale that is told. This time it is a different
and perhaps a more inspiring story, though the records of gallant defeat
are not without their insp