Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/391

 368 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS about his body on every one of his successive expeditions North. He had always left a fragment of it at his ' 'farthest North *' points. The others were the colors of the Delta Kappa Epsilon f ra- temity, of which he was a member while at Bowdoin College ; the ** World's Ensign of Liberty and Peace''; the Navy League flag ; and the Bed Cross flag. After these flags had been planted, Peary told Henson to time the Eskimos for three rousing cheers, which they gave with a willy and Peary shook hands with each member of the party. Then, in a space between the ice blocks of a pressure ridge, Peary placed a glass bottle containing a strip of his flag and some records. After thirty hours at the Pole, busy with marching, counter- marching, making observations and records, they found them- selves too restless to sleep, and at four o'clock on the after- noon of April seventh they turned their backs upon the camp at the North Pole. Often, in Arctic work, the return journey is more serious than the advance. The vital thing is to keep and use the outward trail. Tired as they were, they must reach land before the next full moon with its ** spring" tides which would rift the ice with open leads. Before starting South, Peary had a brief talk with his com- panions. The home journey was to be '*big travel," ''small sleep," and hustle every minute. They were going to try to cover two of the outward marches each day, with a halt and luncheon in the igloos of the old camp. If they could keep the trail they could do it ; they need waste no time building igloos. Straining every nerve, they pushed southward. Eighteen- hour marches, and hunting for the main trail in some places where the ice had faulted, were trying experiences, but Peary says he felt that they "were coming down the North Pole hill in great shape." After being detained again near the Big Lead for a few hours they at last reached land. Peary thought his Eskimos had gone crazy. They yelled and called and danced until they fell in utter exhaustion. As one of them sank down on his sledge, he said.