y? I had no
answer to the question. That was God's secret. Perhaps Hubbard's work,
in the fulness of His plan, had been completed. Perhaps He still had
work for me to do.

We laid him to rest in a beautiful spot in the little cemetery at
Haverstraw, at the very foot of the mountains that he used to roam, and
overlooking the grand old Hudson that he loved so well. The mountains
will know him no more, and never again will he dip his paddle into the
placid waters of the river; but his noble character, his simple faith,
a faith that never wavered, but grew the stronger in his hour of
trouble, his bravery, his indomitable will--these shall not be
forgotten; they shall remain a living example to all who love bravery
and self-sacrifice.

The critics have said that Hubbard was foolhardy, and without proper
preparation he plunged blindly into an unknown wilderness. I believe
the early chapters of this narrative show that these criticisms are
unfounded, and that Hubbard took every precaution that could occur to a
reasonable mind. Himself a thorough student of wilderness travel, in
making his preparations for the journey he sought the advice of men of
wider experience as to every little detail and acted upon it.

Others tell how fish-nets might have been made from willow bark "after
the manner of the Indians," and describe other means of securing food
that they claim men familiar with woodcraft would have resorted to.
The preceding chapters show how impracticable it would have been for us
to have consumed our small stock of provisions while manufacturing a
fish-net from bark; and how we did resort to every method at our
command of procuring food. Unfortunately we fell upon a year of
paucity. The old men of the country bore witness that never before
within their memory had there been such a scarcity of game.

But by far the most serious criticism of all, to my mind, is that
against the object of the expedition. It has been said that, even had
Hubbard succeeded in accomplishing everything that he set out to do,
the result would have been of little or no value to the world. In
answer to this I cannot do better than to quote from the eloquent
tribute to Hubbard's expedition made by his old college friend, Mr.
James A. LeRoy, in the magazine issued by the Alumni Association of
their alma mater.

"Editorial wiseacres," says Mr. LeRoy, "may preach that such efforts as
Hubbard made are of no great immediate value to the world