Oct. 29th, Saturday—139th day.
Dressier died during night.
Oct. 30. Sunday, 140th day.
Boyd and Görtz died during night. Mr. Collins dying
CHAPTER XL
“Mr. Collins dying
And there on October 30th, the pitiful record ended. Before he could put a period to that final tragic sentence, the pencil dropped from De Long’s nerveless fingers, with his last conscious effort he tossed his journal over his shoulder to save that record of what had happened to his shipmates from the fire nearby. My blurred eyes stared at the pages before me; my captain had died as he had lived—with his thoughts only on his men. Not a word on that last tragic page about himself, his sufferings, or his own approaching death. And yet for the solitary malcontent who on the Jeannette had tried the captain’s very soul, who had fought savagely to destroy the discipline on which De Long relied to save our health and our lives amid the perils of the Arctic pack, he could still tax the little strength left in his starved body to note down,
“Mr. Collins’ birthday; forty years old.”