Chapter I: Preface

FOR more than three hundred years an intense desire has been felt by explorers to discover and reveal to the world the secrets of the immediate regions of the North Pole. Nor has this desire been confined to mere adventurers. Learned geographers, skillful navigators, and scientific men of broad and accurate study, have engaged in these enterprises with enthusiastic interest. The great governments of the Christian world have bestowed upon them liberally the resources of their wealth and science, and never to a greater extent than within the last three years. Failure seems but to stimulate exertion. Scarcely have the tears dried on the faces of the friends of those who have perished in the undertaking before we hear of the departure of a fresh expedition. Something like a divine inspiration has attended these explorations from the first, and their moral tone has been excellent.

This volume sketches the latest American efforts, second to no others in heroism and success, and abounding in instructive and intensely interesting adventures both grave and gay.

We have followed in this volume, as in its companion volume, "The Arctic Heroes," the orthography of Professor Dall, of the Smithsonian Institution, in some frequently-occurring Arctic words.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. NORTHWARD 9
II. ANCHORED AT LAST 17
III. THRILLING INCIDENTS 23
IV. LOST AND RESCUED 31
V. MORE HEROIC EXCURSIONS 43
VI. THE OPEN SEA 53
VII. AN IMPORTANT MOVEMENT 60
VIII. TREATY MAKING 68
IX. ARCTIC HUNTING 75
X. THEE ESCAPING PARTY 89
XI. A GREEN SPOT 99
XII. NETLIK 109
XIII. THE HUT 120
XIV. ESQUIMO TREACHERY 131
XV. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 142
XVI. DRUGGED ESQUIMO 150
XVII. BACK AGAIN 160
XVIII. SCARES 171
XIX. SEEKING THE ESQUIMO 179
XX. DESERTERS 186
XXI. CLOSING INCIDENTS OF THE IMPRISONMENT 194
XXII. HOMEWARD BOUND 201
XXIII. NARROW ESCAPES 209
XXIV. ESQUIMO KINDNESS 216
XXV. MELVILLE BAY 221
XXVI. SAVED 228
XXVII. OFF AGAIN 234
XXVIII. COLLIDING FLOES 241
XXIX. THE WINTER HOME 249
XXX. GLACIERS 255
XXXI. A STRANGE DREAM AND ITS FULFILLMENT 263
XXXII. THE CROWNING SLEDGE JOURNEY 270
XXXIII. LAST INCIDENTS OF THE EXPEDITION 279
XXXIV. SOMETHING NEW 287
XXXV. A FEARFUL STORM 295
XXXVI. THE AURORA 304
XXXVII. THE DYING ESQUIMO 311
XXXVIII. CUNNING HUNTERS 317
XXXIX. ROUND FROBISHER BAY 326
XL. THE "POLARIS" 333
XLI. DISASTER 344
XLII. THE LAST OF THE "POLARIS" 357
XLIII. THE FEARFUL SITUATION 364
XLIV. THE WONDERFUL DRIFT 371
XLV. THE WONDERFUL ESCAPE 380

Illustrations.

CAPTAIN C. F. HALL 2
WALRUSES--A FAMILY PARTY 81
CAPTAIN BUDDINGTON 337
UNLOADING STORES FROM THE "POLARIS" 345
PERILOUS SITUATION OF THE "POLARIS" 354

NORTH-POLE VOYAGES.