Nor must the stimulating effects of the party's high spirits be forgotten.

Everything, in short, was in our favor.

We crowded on all speed for the first five miles of our return journey.

Then we came to a narrow crack which was filled with recent ice, which furnished a chance to try for a sounding, a thing that had not been feasible at the Pole itself on account of the thickness of the ice.

Here, however, we were able to chop through the ice until we struck water.