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HISTORY OF WRANGEL ISLAND DOCUMENTS 175

tion papers that he was able to publish his newspaper
stories and charges, and how it was that neither the rela-
tives nor myself were able at the time to prevent his
doing so.

How Mr. Noice came to go to Wrangel Island and get
the expedition documents first into his possession has
been explained in part in Chapter IX and is more fully
explained in the appendix, but the real reason why he
was able to publish his story in the newspapers is one
of business details, or rather the omission of them.

There never was a discussion between Mr. Noice and
me as to what compensation he was to receive for going
to Wrangel Island. From my point of view, the reason
we did not speak of wages was that he owed me several
thousand dollars at the time. It did not seem to me
likely that he would be able to repay my loans soon,
irrespective of whether he went to Wrangel, and I was
not at that stage very particular about his paying since
I regarded him as a friend and protege. I had in mind,
without saying so to him, that I might check off a fair
monthly wage against the account of what he owed me.
The highest wages I have ever heard of as being received
by an arctic explorer were paid by the Canadian Govern-
ment, on the expedition of which I was commander from
1913 to 1918, when the captain of one of our ships re-
ceived $200 a month. Even if Mr. Noice had received
double or treble that amount per month, the sum he
owed me would have much more than covered the total.

Such is my point of view. Mr. Noice, on the other
hand, says that the reason wages were not spoken of was
that it was understood that his compensation was to
consist of whatever money he could get for selling what-
ever story he could bring back from Wrangel Island.