and
that night, before going to sleep, I read the twenty-third Psalm, and
the fifth chapter of St. Matthew.

March 27: I was to take the trail at six A. M., but before starting I
went over to Marvin's igloo to bid him good-by. In his quiet, earnest
manner, he advised me to keep on, and hoped for our success; he
congratulated me and we gave each other the strong, fraternal grip of
our honored fraternity and we confidently expected to see each other
again at the ship. My good, kind friend was never again to see us, or
talk with us. It is sad to write this. He went back to his death,
drowned in the cold, black water of the Big Lead. In unmarked, unmarbled
grave, he sleeps his last, long sleep.

CHAPTER XIV

BARTLETT'S FARTHEST NORTH--HIS QUIET GOOD-BY

Leaving the Commander and Marvin at the igloos, my party took up the
Captain's trail northward. It was expected that Peary would follow in an
hour and that at the same time Marvin would start his return march.
After a few minutes' going, we came to young ice of this season, broken
up and frozen solid, not difficult to negotiate, but requiring constant
pulling; leaving this, we came to an open lead which caused us to make a
detour to the westward for four miles. We crossed on ice so thin that
one of the sledge-runners broke through, and a little beyond one of the
dogs fell in so completely that it was a precarious effort to rescue
him; but we made it and, doglike, he shook the water out of his fur and
a little later, when his fur froze, I gave him a thorough beating; not
for falling in the water, but in order to loosen the ice-particles, so
that he could shake them off. Poor brute, it was no use, and in a short
while he commenced to develop symptoms of the dread piblokto, so in
mercy he was killed. One of the Esquimo boys did the killing.

Dangerous as the crossing was, it was the only place possible, and we
succeeded far better than we had anticipated. Beyond the lead we came to
an old floe and, beyond that, young ice of one season's formation,
similar to that which had been encountered earlier in the day. Before us
lay a heavy, old floe, covered with soft, deep snow in which we sank
continually; but it was only five P. M. when we reached the Captain's
igloo. Anticipating the arrival of the Commander, we built another
igloo, and about an hour and a half later the Commander and his party
came in.

March 28: Exactly 40 deg. below zero when we pushed the sledges