graphs, we went into our igloos and tried to sleep a little, before
starting south again.

I could not sleep and my two Eskimos, Seegloo and Egingwah, who occupied
the igloo with me, seemed equally restless. They turned from side to
side, and when they were quiet I could tell from their uneven breathing
that they were not asleep. Though they had not been specially excited
the day before when I told them that we had reached the goal, yet they
also seemed to be under the same exhilarating influence which made sleep
impossible for me.

Finally I rose, and telling my men and the three men in the other igloo,
who were equally wakeful, that we would try to make our last camp, some
thirty miles to the south, before we slept, I gave orders to hitch up
the dogs and be off. It seemed unwise to waste such perfect traveling
weather in tossing about on the sleeping platforms of our igloos.

Neither Henson nor the Eskimos required any urging to take to the trail
again. They were naturally anxious to get back to the land as soon as
possible--now that our work was done. And about four o'clock on the
afternoon of the 7th of April we turned our backs upon the camp at the
North Pole.

Though intensely conscious of what I was leaving, I did not wait for any
lingering farewell of my life's goal. The event of human beings standing
at the hitherto inaccessible summit of the earth was accomplished, and
my work now lay to the south, where four hundred and thirteen nautical
miles of ice-floes and possibly open leads still lay between us and the
north coast of Grant Land. One backward glance I gave--then turned my
face toward the south and toward the future.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The instruments used in taking observations for latitude may be
either a sextant and an artificial horizon, or a small theodolite. Both
these instruments were taken on the sledge journey; but the theodolite
was not used, owing to the low altitude of the sun. Had the expedition
been delayed on the return until May or June, the theodolite would then
have been of value in determining position and variation of the compass.

The method of taking meridian observations with a sextant and an
artificial horizon on a polar sledge journey is as follows: if there is
any wind, a semi-circular wind-guard of snow blocks, two tiers high, is
put up, opening to the south. If there is no wind, this is not
necessary.

The instrument box is firmly bedded in the snow, which is packed down