When I turned out, I was old and stiff in every joint, my feet and ankles swollen and my left foot almost out of commission from some wrench. The doctor’s salve brought it round a good deal, and I hoped to be able to use it when the weather cleared.
One thing was sure, I simply could not have done the work I was doing now, when I left the Roosevelt or for a good many days after.
It was rather a disagreeable 4th of July celebration for us, wading through ice-water, and the weather such that I could not even fly the flag.
I hoped this constant snowfall would squeeze all the moisture out of the air, so that we might have some more fine weather, though I feared that we were going to have the same weather for our return that I had in July, 1899, in Princess Marie Bay.
CHAPTER XI
THE RETURN FROM “FARTHEST WEST”
I quote from my Journal:
July 6th.—Another day of hell, except that there has been too much water to comport with the orthodox understanding of the place.
About 5 P. M. yesterday, the fog and snow lightened sufficiently for a short time, to permit studying out a route to the next point to the east, among the lakes.
We then turned in for some sleep before starting, as we had already been up and awake over twelve hours. Waking at midnight, I found the fog had settled down densely but it was no longer snowing.
We ate our breakfast, then I had the men build a cairn in which was put a brief record in a bottle, and we started.