48' NORTH, MARCH 22, 1909] Underlying all these calculations was the ever-present knowledge that a twenty-fours' gale would open leads of water which might be impassable, and that all these plans would be negatived.
As I paced to and fro, making out my plans, I remembered that three years ago that day we had crossed the "big lead" on our way north, April 1, 1906.

A comparison of conditions now and then filled me with hope for the future.
This was the time for which I had reserved all my energies, the time for which I had worked for twenty-two years, for which I had lived the simple life and trained myself as for a race.

In spite of my years, I felt fit for the demands of the coming days and was eager to be on the trail.

As for my party, my equipment, and my supplies, they were perfect beyond my most sanguine dreams of earlier years.

My party might be regarded as an ideal which had now come to realization--as loyal and responsive to my will as the fingers of my right hand.
My four Eskimos carried the technic of dogs, sledges, ice, and cold as their racial heritage.