o boys had commenced their return journey,
and the main column, depleted to its final strength, started northward.
We were six: Peary, the commander, the Esquimos, Ootah, Egingwah,
Seegloo and Ooqueah, and myself.

Day and night were the same. My thoughts were on the going and getting
forward, and on nothing else. The wind was from the southeast, and
seemed to push us on, and the sun was at our backs, a ball of livid
fire, rolling his way above the horizon in never-ending day.

The Captain had gone, Commander Peary and I were alone (save for the
four Esquimos), the same as we had been so often in the past years, and
as we looked at each other we realized our position and we knew without
speaking that the time had come for us to demonstrate that we were the
men who, it had been ordained, should unlock the door which held the
mystery of the Arctic. Without an instant's hesitation, the order to
push on was given, and we started off in the trail made by the Captain
to cover the Farthest North he had made and to push on over one hundred
and thirty miles to our final destination.

The Captain had had rough going, but, owing to the fact that his trail
was our track for a short time, and that we came to good going shortly
after leaving his turning point, we made excellent distance without any
trouble, and only stopped when we came to a lead barely frozen over, a
full twenty-five miles beyond. We camped and waited for the strong
southeast wind to force the sides of the lead together. The Esquimos had
eaten a meal of stewed dog, cooked over a fire of wood from a discarded
sledge, and, owing to their wonderful powers of recuperation, were in
good condition; Commander Peary and myself, rested and invigorated by
our thirty hours in the last camp, waiting for the return and departure
of Captain Bartlett, were also in fine fettle, and accordingly the
accomplishment of twenty-five miles of northward progress was not
exceptional. With my proven ability in gauging distances, Commander
Peary was ready to take the reckoning as I made it and he did not resort
to solar observations until we were within a hand's grasp of the Pole.

The memory of those last five marches, from the Farthest North of
Captain Bartlett to the arrival of our party at the Pole, is a memory of
toil, fatigue, and exhaustion, but we were urged on and encouraged by
our relentless commander, who was himself being scourged by the final
lashings of the dominating influen