Otto Emersleben IN THE CREVASSES OF THE ... - Bowdoin College

earer. I had hardly heard the staircase creak underneath his footsteps when I turned to Klara
and said: “It is embarrassing to be accepted so hospitably by this man.”
“He invited us, so we are here. And we’re staying here, until you are completely and
totally recovered, Scharlih. What should be embarrassing about that?”
summer?”
“Should I tell him, that Peary has invited me - I mean us - on his ship for the
“Given the current state of things, nothing will come of that anyway.”
“We’ll decide that later. What counts now, is the lone fact, that we will also be
Peary’s guests. At least, possibly.”
“Poppycock. The doctor might hold absolutely no bitter feelings against Peary.
What he has said thus far does not portray the Commander in a particularly favorable light,
but what do you have to do with it? The two just can’t get along. At least, not really. I mean
- months long up there on the ice together, I don’t imagine that that’s too easy.”
“Cook seems to be so very different from Peary. Peary is more of a gambler - and
Cook isn’t that at all. He’s more a man of science.”
“But the ambition, which knows no limits and no considerations - that they both have
in common. I will always remember his eyes, as he told us in the train about the eternal ice.
I don’t know anymore if he was right then on the North Pole or the South Pole. In any case
this crazy obsession flickered in his eyes - just like you, Scharlih, when you speak of
Winnetou.”
I had never spent so much time in New York as I did during this visit. I enjoyed the
bustle of this unique metropolis on long walks with my Little Heart. We visited museums,
parks, libraries, theaters, and many other public buildings. Through extensive coach rides I