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Peary's
Great Disappointment.
It
was my boy O-tah who disclosed to me that Peary was to leave me behind
in the final few miles to the Pole, and with E-tig-wah he witnesses
the disappointment of Commander Peary when a few miles from the camp,
his observation told the lieutenant that he had overstepped and gone
past the Pole, which we had reached the night before. Our camp itself
was practically situated on "the top of the earth." For
the crime of being present when the Pole was reached Commander Peary
has ignored me ever since.
After twenty-two years of close companionship he refused even to say
good bye when we separated in New York. And at Fort Conger, nearly
ten years before, we had carried Peary nearly 200 miles with his feet
frozen, traveling days and hunting nights for food to keep him and
ourselves alive!
Captain
Bartlett was glad to turn back when he did. He frankly told me several
times that he had little expectation of ever returning alive. Several
times he said he had gone far enough and would be "blame glad"
when his time came to stop. After parting with him our trail became
much easier until on the final day's march we must have made fully
thirty miles, and were at our destination.
Bartlett
took back two natives, eighteen dogs and one sledge. During the last
five days of advance he was engaged to break the trail, but in the
roughest ice I had to do it, better fitted through long polar experience.
Leaving
Bartlett the morning of April 2 we made twenty miles and the second
and following days we made greater distances. No observations were
taken. We reached the Pole the night of April 6, when I heard that
I was to be deserted on the following morning. Fortunately for me
we even then "arrived". On the morning of April 7th I was
surely enough deserted, but not for long. Upon his return in an hour
Peary ordered out a pole, consisting of a long hoe handle, to hold
up an American flag.
He gave the order to the Eskimos and did not mention any part I might
take in the ceremony. I did not mind, but pitched in and led the cheering.
Cheers
for the U.S. Flag.
I
can see now that we could have reached the North Pole in 1906 if we
had made haste in the colder season. Instead time was wasted in establishing
stations which could never be of value, because the Polar ice is always
moving. The warmer season arrived and caught us and we hastened back
to avoid the ever-opening"leads" of water.
You ask about Dr. Cook. No, he did not reach the Pole and he could
not. I know that with all my experience I could not take two men and
the equipment he said he had and get within 200 miles of the Pole.
If I should reach within 250 miles of it I would be doing extremely
well.
It is true that the Eskimos told me, for I obtained for Peary the
details of Cook's performances, which he afterward offered as his
own investigation, that Cook was not once out of sight of land. He
had tried, and seeing the uselessness of it had made for Jonešs Sound
to catch a whaler home. The ice had kept the whalers out and Cook
was left upon his own resources. His Eskimo boys were in the same
fix and all had to stay until conditions changed.
Cook's
Mind Affected?
Sometimes
I think it all affected Cook's mind. He wanted to reach the Pole,
tried hard and thought of it so much and so greatly that at last he
half hypnotized himself into the idea he had been there and then found
easy credence. If Peary had let him alone until the full truth came
out Cook would not have skimmed the financial cream from the North
Pole situation.
Peary
Only Advertised Dr. Cook.
One
cannot fake records to convince scientific men of a bogus trip to
the North Pole. Peary need not have hurried to unmask Cook. It were
much better to have allowed matters to take their course. Contrary
to the belief of many, the Eskimos do not like Dr. Cook. He owed them
much and paid in promises. Neither do they generally like Peary, though
Peary paid his obligations. But the Eskimos who were brought to this
country and who afterward denounced Peary were wrong. Peary was not
responsible for their condition. Another story is involved. He brought
them here, that is all. On others rests the responsibility.
The
"Big Lead" Explained.
The
"Big Lead" so often spoken of is a break in the polar ice
always found north of Cape Columbia. Once it was three miles wide.
We waited for "young ice" to cross it. A word for the polar
dogs. They are intuitive and cunning and spread out on thin ice with
an understanding almost human. When the "young ice" is yielding,
elastic and wavy the dogs open out like a fan and do not break through.
The men walk respectful distances from the sledges. Occasionally a
sledge breaks through.
Lieutenant
Pearyšs custom was to request rather than command. Could we do so-and-so
at such a time? If we answered in the affirmative he would then hold
as to an exact accomplishment of the task as per agreement.
THE END
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