stefansson-wrangel-09-25-008-009

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- 9 -

sixty or seventy days, for we have about made up our minds to go to Nome
instead of Anadyr Bay. We have thought that Stefansson might be wintering
on the mainland south of us, and I think that if he is we will see him (that
he will arrive at Wrangell) by January 1st. If he should not come till
later, we will have to take a chance and go, for very likely if he is winter-
ing on the mainland we will hear of him and his ship and will go there. If
one can go by hunches, my hunch tells me that Stefansson did not come north
this summer and that we are doing the right thing in making the trip."

The entries during the latter half of November and early
December are generally repetitions of three items. Trapping was going on
energetically and a fox was caught every now and then; bear tracks were
occasionally seen but no bears were secured; the seamstress was “busy making
skin clothing for Crawford and me” for the proposed trip to Nome.

To those familiar with the "inside stories" of many
polar expeditions, a remarkable and creditable thing is that in a diary
obviously frank, even to a fault, there are no disagreements or recriminations
unless those words be applied to three or four entries during the first few
weeks of the expedition. In the account of the voyage from Nome to Wrangell
Knight mentions that Galle was not doing his full share of the work, but later
he explains that this was because of seasickness. A few days after landing
() we are told, "there seems to be some friction between
Maurer and Galle but I will do my best to ease matters between them, for a
small party like this should run smoothly." From that date to the end of the
diary there is not a word of trouble between any of the four men or any
suggestion that they disagreed on policy. Neither is there a hint that
Knight thought any of the others were doing less than their share of the work
or striving less faithfully for the success of the party. There are some

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