“WE BURST INTO SONG”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XV, Issue 167, 20 June 1925, Page 4

“WE BURST INTO SONG”

►So says one of our messages to-day, speaking from Dio lips of his compatriots who, in greatly surprised relief, recognised the great Norwegian explorer coming back to them aboard a storm-battered Norwegian sealing ship almost, as it seemed, from an icy sepulchr© to safety. There should I>e few hearts in Christendom that have not, at receipt of the news, joined in a silent song of thanksgiving to the Providence that has brought back to us this so intrepid modern adventurer and th© comrades who so eagerly took the great risk with him. When yesterday’s cables told us that they had got within a hundred miles of the Pole, and had yet made th© return journey on foot, the feat seemed to be one so near impossibility that it was difficult to imagin© how* it could have been accomplished. Indeed, there was almost an inclination to discredit the good news entirely, however authentic it might appear. However, to-day the explanation is provided, and w© know now that Amundsen and his companion* came back as they went away—through th© air. Even with their means of salvation set fast in the polar ice, never, their leader tells us, did the} Jose confidence in their ability to free at least one of theip and fly back in it So supreme was this confidence that they devoted much of their time to th«» scientific observations that wer© ho much tho objects of their great exploit, and this, though all th© tim© provision* had to b© scantly rationed and fell low as to leave no margin for possible failure in th© aerial attempt. AH lionpur and praise to these fine spirits, giving fresh assurance that, with all th© softnesses that civilisation has brought, human courage and human endurance and resource are no less than they ever have been. There must surely b© som© intoxicant in the polar air, for, like the wine-bibber of old, w© have Amundsen, despite his sufferings, crying, “I will seek it yet again.”