“The game is off. My dream of sixteen years is ended. It cleared during the night and we got under way this morning. Deep snow. Two small old floes. Then came another region of old rubble and deep snow. A survey from the top of a pinnacle showed this extended north, east and west as far as could be seen. The two old floes over which we had just come were the only ones in sight. It is impracticable and I gave the order to camp. I have made the best fight I knew; and I believe it has been a good one.” There was now nothing for them to do but to make the best of their way back. They reached Payer Harbour on May 17, where the _Windward_, with Mrs Peary and her daughter on board, joined them on August 5. Shortly after this the whole party set sail for home. Peary has since shown, however, that the passage which we have quoted from his diary was written in a fit of momentary despondency, and that his dream of sixteen years is by no means over, for last year he set sail in the _Roosevelt_ on another dash for the Pole, the results of which are now being awaited with the keenest interest. CHAPTER XXXIII OTHER RECENT EXPEDITIONS—ABRUZZI, WELLMANN AND TOLL From his earliest days Prince Louis Amadeus of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi, displayed a strong taste for adventure, and while he was still very young, he made a name for himself as a mountaineer of more than average daring and skill. It was in 1897, after he had returned from a successful attempt to climb Mount Elias, the great Alaskan mountain which had hitherto proved too much for even the most intrepid adventurers, that he first conceived the idea of organising an expedition, the object of which should be the discovery of the North Pole. After spending some eighteen months in considering the problem and consulting authorities as to the best course to pursue, he purchased a whaler of 358 tons and 400 horse-power, which was originally known as the _Jason_, but which he rechristened the _Stella Polare_, and set to work to fit her out for the expedition which he proposed to make.