INTRODUCTION
xxv
by Mr. Noice, and (so far as I want to express it in print)
what I think of Mr. Noice for making through the news-
papers such cruel and unfounded accusations.
The tragedy of Wrangel Island was the culmination of
an enterprise which was conceived by those who under-
took it, as well as by Mr. Stefansson who was financing it.
They appreciated the disadvantages under which they
were going north, the limited financial resources of Mr.
Stefansson, and the chances that the Canadian Govern-
ment might not come to his support. They limited them-
selves in equipment and supplies, but they were all will-
ing and glad to take their share of the chances. I believe
that if they could be heard to speak now, not one of them
would find any fault with any of their associates in the
North or with Mr. Stefansson.
The heroism and fortitude of the four boys, all under
thirty, with bright prospects for lives of unselfishness
before them, can never be measured by dollars, it can
never be appreciated by the World’s peoples who shall
enjoy the fruits of their great sacrifice, and it can only
be understood as the price necessary for the advancement
of civilization.
These boys went willingly and eagerly into the
Arctic and, as far as we will ever know, there was no
disagreement or discord among them; there is not a word
of complaint or of controversy in all Lorne’s diary, and,
in spite of all the great sorrow we, their parents and
relatives, must and do feel for their untimely loss, there
is glory in their deaths, because they died as only real
men die; none were yellow, none were quitters and none
were traitors to their companions or false to their trust.
JOHN I. KNIGHT.
EN