t to work making two
whole sledges from the wreckage of the three broken ones.

We had barely completed this work when the Commander, the Captain,
Marvin, Borup, and Esquimos came in. I was glad to see them all again,
especially the smiling face of George Borup, whom I had not seen since
the day he left Cape Columbia.

We learned that MacMillan had been sent back to the ship on the 15th,
that the party had been delayed on the second day's march by a new lead,
which widened so rapidly and to such an extent that it was feared to be
the twin sister of the Big Lead farther back.

March 17: The whole party, with the exception of Professor Marvin and
his detachment, remained in camp. Marvin was sent ahead to plot a route
for the next marches of the column, and the party in camp busied itself
in the general work of repairing sledges and equipment.

The morning of the 18th found the main column ready to start, and start
it did, in spite of the dreary outlook due to the condition of the
weather and of the ice. Thermometer 40 deg. below zero, and the loose ice to
our right and in front distinctly in motion, but fortunately moving to
the northward. A heavy wind of the force of a gale was at our backs, and
for the first three miles our progress was slow. The hummocks of ice in
wild disarrangement, and so difficult to cross that repeatedly the
sledges were overturned; and one sledge was broken so badly that a halt
had to be made to repair it. While repairing the sledge, our midday
lunch of crackers was eaten. The dogs were not fed anything, experience
having taught us that dogs will work better with hope for a reward in
the future than when it is past.

All that day the air was thick with haze and frost and we felt the cold
even more than when the temperature was lower with the air clear. The
wind would find the tiniest opening in our clothing and pierce us with
the force of driving needles. Our hoods froze to our growing beards and
when we halted we had to break away the ice that had been formed by the
congealing of our breaths and from the moisture of perspiration exhaled
by our bodies. When we finally camped and built our igloos, it was not
with any degree of comfort that we lay down to rest. Actually it was
more comfortable to keep on the march, and when we did rest it was
fatigue that compelled.

CHAPTER XIII

THE SUPPORTING-PARTIES BEGIN TO TURN BACK

March 19: We left camp in a haze of bitter cold; the ice co