rty and the
greater the number of sledges, the greater is the chance of breakages or
delay for one reason or another. A large party cannot be forced as
rapidly as a small party.

[Illustration: THE HALT FOR LUNCH IN LAST FORCED MARCH, 89 deg. 25' TO 89 deg.
57', SHOWING ALCOHOL STOVES IN SNOW SHELTER

Left to Right: Henson, Egingwah, Ootah, Seegloo, Ooqueah]

Take a regiment, for instance. The regiment could not make as good an
average daily march for a number of forced marches as could a picked
company of that regiment. The picked company could not make as good an
average march for a number of forced marches as could a picked file of
men from that particular company; and this file could not make the same
average for a certain number of forced marches that the fastest traveler
in the whole regiment could make.

So that, with my party reduced to five picked men, every man, dog, and
sledge under my individual eye, myself in the lead, and all recognizing
that the moment had now come to let ourselves out for all there was in
us, we naturally bettered our previous speed.

When Bartlett left us the sledges had been practically rebuilt, all the
best dogs were in our pack, and we all understood that we must attain
our object and get back as quickly as we possibly could. The weather was
in our favor. The average march for the whole journey from the land to
the Pole was over fifteen miles. We had repeatedly made marches of
twenty miles. Our average for five marches from the point where the last
supporting party turned back was about twenty-six miles.

CHAPTER XXXII

WE REACH THE POLE

The last march northward ended at ten o'clock on the forenoon of April
6. I had now made the five marches planned from the point at which
Bartlett turned back, and my reckoning showed that we were in the
immediate neighborhood of the goal of all our striving. After the usual
arrangements for going into camp, at approximate local noon, of the
Columbia meridian, I made the first observation at our polar camp. It
indicated our position as 89 deg. 57'.

[Illustration: CAMP MORRIS K. JESUP, 89 deg. 57', APRIL 6 AND 7, 1909]

We were now at the end of the last long march of the upward journey. Yet
with the Pole actually in sight I was too weary to take the last few
steps. The accumulated weariness of all those days and nights of forced
marches and insufficient sleep, constant peril and anxiety, seemed to
roll across me all at once. I w