He had been in his igloo but a short time, and his men and dogs were tired out and temporarily discouraged by the heart-racking work of making a road.
I told him to take a good long sleep before getting under way again; and while my men were building the igloos, I lightened the loads of Bartlett's sledges about one hundred pounds, to put them in better trim for pioneering in this rough going.

The added weight would be less burdensome on our own sledges than on his.

Notwithstanding the crazy road over which we had traveled, this march netted us twelve good miles toward the goal.
We were now across the 87th parallel and into the region of perpetual daylight, as the sun had not set during the last march.

The knowledge that we had crossed the 87th parallel with men and dogs in good condition, and plenty of supplies upon the sledges, sent me to sleep that night with a light heart.

Only about six miles beyond this point, at 87 deg.