rn march, of
feeding the dogs according to the distance covered; that is, double
rationing them when we covered two marches. I was able to do this, on
account of the reserve supply of food which I had in my dogs themselves,
in the event of our being seriously delayed by open leads.

At the next camp we made tea and ate our lunch in the igloos, rested the
dogs, and then pushed on again. The weather was fine, though there were
apparently indications of a coming change. It took all of our will power
to reach the next igloos, but we did it, and were asleep almost before
we had finished our supper. Without these igloos to look forward to and
work for, we should not have made this march.

Friday, April 9, was a wild day. All day long the wind blew strong from
the north-northeast, increasing finally to a gale, while the thermometer
hung between 18 deg. and 22 deg. below zero. All the leads that we had passed
here on the upward journey were greatly widened and new ones had been
formed. We struck one just north of the 88th parallel which was at least
a mile wide, but fortunately it was all covered with practicable young
ice. It was not a reassuring day. For the last half of this march the
ice was raftering all about us and beneath our very feet under the
pressure of the howling gale. Fortunately we were traveling nearly
before the wind, for it would have been impossible to move and follow a
trail with the gale in our faces. As it was, the dogs scudded along
before the wind much of the time on the gallop. Under the impact of the
storm the ice was evidently crushing southward and bearing us with it. I
was strongly reminded of the wild gale in which we regained "storm camp"
on our return march in 1906. Luckily there was no lateral movement of
the ice, or we should have had serious trouble. When we camped that
night, at 87 deg. 47', I wrote in my diary: "From here to the Pole and back
has been a glorious sprint with a savage finish. Its results are due to
hard work, little sleep, much experience, first class equipment, and
good fortune as regards weather and open water."

[Illustration: BARTLETT AND HIS PARTY READY TO START BACK FROM 87 deg. 47'
NORTH, APRIL 1, 1909]

During the night the gale moderated and gradually died away, leaving the
air very thick. All hands found the light extremely trying to the eyes.
It was almost impossible for us to see the trail. Though the temperature
was only 10 deg. below zero, we covered only Bar