permit an immediate latitude observation. Weather and leads
permitting, I believed that I could do this. From the improving
character of the ice, and in view of the recent northerly winds, I
hoped that I should have no serious trouble with the going.

If for any reason I fell short of these proposed distances, I had two
methods in reserve for making up the deficit. One was to double the last
march--that is, make a good march, have tea and a hearty lunch, rest the
dogs a little, and then go on again, without sleep. The other was, at
the conclusion of my fifth march, to push on with one light sledge, a
double team of dogs, and one or two of the party, leaving the rest in
camp. Even should the going be worse than was then anticipated, eight
marches like the three from 85 deg. 48' to 86 deg. 38', or six similar to our
last one, would do the trick.

[Illustration: CAMP AT 85 deg. 48' NORTH, MARCH 22, 1909]

Underlying all these calculations was the ever-present knowledge that a
twenty-fours' gale would open leads of water which might be impassable,
and that all these plans would be negatived.

As I paced to and fro, making out my plans, I remembered that three
years ago that day we had crossed the "big lead" on our way north, April
1, 1906. A comparison of conditions now and then filled me with hope for
the future.

This was the time for which I had reserved all my energies, the time for
which I had worked for twenty-two years, for which I had lived the
simple life and trained myself as for a race. In spite of my years, I
felt fit for the demands of the coming days and was eager to be on the
trail. As for my party, my equipment, and my supplies, they were perfect
beyond my most sanguine dreams of earlier years. My party might be
regarded as an ideal which had now come to realization--as loyal and
responsive to my will as the fingers of my right hand.

My four Eskimos carried the technic of dogs, sledges, ice, and cold as
their racial heritage. Henson and Ootah had been my companions at the
farthest point on the expedition three years before. Egingwah and
Seegloo had been in Clark's division, which had such a narrow escape at
that time, having been obliged for several days to subsist upon their
sealskin boots, all their other food being gone.

And the fifth was young Ooqueah, who had never before served in any
expedition; but who was, if possible, even more willing and eager than
the others to go with me wherever I sh