THE ENGLISH AT THE NORTH POLE

PART IOFTHE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS

BY

JULES VERNE

CONTENTS

 CHAP. PAGE I. --THE "FORWARD" . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 II. --AN UNEXPECTED LETTER . . . . . . . . . 14 III. --DR. CLAWBONNY . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 IV. --DOG-CAPTAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 V. --OUT AT SEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 VI. --THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT . . . . . . . 44 VII. --DAVIS'S STRAITS . . . . . . . . . . . 52 VIII. --GOSSIP OF THE CREW . . . . . . . . . . 61 IX. --NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 X. --DANGEROUS NAVIGATION . . . . . . . . . 78 XI. --THE DEVIL'S THUMB . . . . . . . . . . 88 XII. --CAPTAIN HATTERAS . . . . . . . . . . . 98 XIII. --THE PROJECTS OF HATTERAS . . . . . . . 109 XIV. --EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN . . . 118 XV. --THE "FORWARD" DRIVEN BACK SOUTH . . . 127 XVI. --THE MAGNETIC POLE . . . . . . . . . . 135 XVII. --THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . 144 XVIII. --THE NORTHERN ROUTE . . . . . . . . . . 150 XIX. --A WHALE IN SIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . 155 XX. --BEECHEY ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 XXI. --THE DEATH OF BELLOT . . . . . . . . . 170 XXII. --BEGINNING OF REVOLT . . . . . . . . . 178 XXIII. --ATTACKED BY ICEBERGS . . . . . . . . . 184 XXIV. --PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING . . . . . . 193 XXV. --AN OLD FOX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 XXVI. --THE LAST LUMP OF COAL . . . . . . . . 209 XXVII. --CHRISTMAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215XXVIII. --PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE . . . . . . 222 XXIX. --ACROSS THE ICE . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 XXX. --THE CAIRN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 XXXI. --THE DEATH OF SIMPSON . . . . . . . . . 243 XXXII. --THE RETURN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

CHAPTER I

THE "FORWARD"

"To-morrow, at low tide, the brig _Forward_, Captain K. Z----, RichardShandon mate, will start from New Prince's Docks for an unknowndestination. "

The foregoing might have been read in the _Liverpool Herald_ of April5th, 1860. The departure of a brig is an event of little importancefor the most commercial port in England. Who would notice it in themidst of vessels of all sorts of tonnage and nationality that sixmiles of docks can hardly contain? However, from daybreak on the 6thof April a considerable crowd covered the wharfs of New Prince'sDocks--the innumerable companies of sailors of the town seemed tohave met there. Workmen from the neighbouring wharfs had left theirwork, merchants their dark counting-houses, tradesmen their shops. The different-coloured omnibuses that ran along the exterior wallof the docks brought cargoes of spectators at every moment; the townseemed to have but one pre-occupation, and that was to see the_Forward_ go out. 

The _Forward_ was a vessel of a hundred and seventy tons, chargedwith a screw and steam-engine of a hundred and twenty horse-power. It might easily have been confounded with the other brigs in the port. But though it offered nothing curious to the eyes of the public, connoisseurs remarked certain peculiarities in it that a sailorcannot mistake. On board the _Nautilus_, anchored at a little distance, a group of sailors were hazarding a thousand conjectures about thedestination of the _Forward_. 

"I don't know what to think about its masting, " said one; "it isn'tusual for steamboats to have so much sail. "

"That ship, " said a quartermaster with a big red face--"that shipwill have to depend more on her masts than her engine, and the topsailsare the biggest because the others will be often useless. I haven'tgot the slightest doubt that the _Forward_ is destined for the Arcticor Antarctic seas, where the icebergs stop the wind more than is goodfor a brave and solid ship. "

"You must be right, Mr. Cornhill, " said a third sailor. "Have younoticed her stern, how straight it falls into the sea?"

"Yes, " said the quartermaster, "and it is furnished with a steelcutter as sharp as a razor and capable of cutting a three-decker intwo if the _Forward_ were thrown across her at top speed. "

"That's certain, " said a Mersey pilot; "for that 'ere vessel runsher fourteen knots an hour with her screw. It was marvellous to seeher cutting the tide when she made her trial trip. I believe you, she's a quick un. "

"The canvas isn't intricate either, " answered Mr. Cornhill; "it goesstraight before the wind, and can be managed by hand. That ship isgoing to try the Polar seas, or my name isn't what it is. There'ssomething else--do you see the wide helm-port that the head of herhelm goes through?"

"It's there, sure enough, " answered one; "but what does that prove?"

"That proves, my boys, " said Mr. Cornhill with disdainfulsatisfaction, "that you don't know how to put two and two togetherand make it four; it proves that they want to be able to take offthe helm when they like, and you know it's a manoeuvre that's oftennecessary when you have ice to deal with. "

"That's certain, " answered the crew of the _Nautilus_. 

"Besides, " said one of them, "the way she's loaded confirms Mr. Cornhill's opinion. Clifton told me. The _Forward_ is victualled andcarries coal enough for five or six years. Coals and victuals areall its cargo, with a stock of woollen garments and sealskins. "

"Then, " said the quartermaster, "there is no more doubt on the matter;but you, who know Clifton, didn't he tell you anything about herdestination?"

"He couldn't tell me; he doesn't know; the crew was engaged withoutknowing. He'll only know where he's going when he gets there. "

"I shouldn't wonder if they were going to the devil, " said anunbeliever: "it looks like it. "

"And such pay, " said Clifton's friend, getting warm--"five times morethan the ordinary pay. If it hadn't been for that, Richard Shandonwouldn't have found a soul to go with him. A ship with a queer shape, going nobody knows where, and looking more like not coming back thananything else, it wouldn't have suited this child. "

"Whether it would have suited you or not, " answered Cornhill, "youcouldn't have been one of the crew of the _Forward_. "

"And why, pray?"

"Because you don't fulfil the required conditions. I read that allmarried men were excluded, and you are in the category, so you needn'ttalk. Even the very name of the ship is a bold one. The_Forward_--where is it to be forwarded to? Besides, nobody knows whothe captain is. "

"Yes, they do, " said a simple-faced young sailor. 

"Why, you don't mean to say that you think Shandon is the captainof the _Forward_?" said Cornhill. 

"But----" answered the young sailor--

"Why, Shandon is commander, and nothing else; he's a brave and boldsailor, an experienced whaler, and a jolly fellow worthy in everyrespect to be the captain, but he isn't any more captain than youor I. As to who is going to command after God on board he doesn'tknow any more than we do. When the moment has come the true captainwill appear, no one knows how nor where, for Richard Shandon has notsaid and hasn't been allowed to say to what quarter of the globe heis going to direct his ship. "

"But, Mr. Cornhill, " continued the young sailor, "I assure you thatthere is someone on board who was announced in the letter, and thatMr. Shandon was offered the place of second to. "

"What!" said Cornhill, frowning, "do you mean to maintain that the_Forward_ has a captain on board?"

"Yes, Mr. Cornhill. "

"Where did you get your precious information from?"

"From Johnson, the boatswain. "

"From Johnson?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Johnson told you so?"

"He not only told me so, but he showed me the captain. "

"He showed him to you!" said Cornhill, stupefied. "And who is it, pray?"

"A dog. "

"What do you mean by a dog?"

"A dog on four legs. "

Stupefaction reigned amongst the crew of the _Nautilus_. Under anyother circumstances they would have burst out laughing. A dog captainof a vessel of a hundred and seventy tons burden! It was enough tomake them laugh. But really the _Forward_ was such an extraordinaryship that they felt it might be no laughing matter, and they mustbe sure before they denied it. Besides, Cornhill himself didn't laugh. 

"So Johnson showed you the new sort of captain, did he?" added he, addressing the young sailor, "and you saw him?"

"Yes, sir, as plainly as I see you now. "

"Well, and what do you think about it?" asked the sailors of thequartermaster. 

"I don't think anything, " he answered shortly. "I don't think anything, except that the _Forward_ is a ship belonging to the devil, or madmenfit for nothing but Bedlam. "

The sailors continued silently watching the _Forward_, whosepreparations for departure were drawing to an end; there was not oneof them who pretended that Johnson had only been laughing at the youngsailor. The history of the dog had already made the round of the town, and amongst the crowd of spectators many a one looked out for thedog-captain and believed him to be a supernatural animal. Besides, the _Forward_ had been attracting public attention for some monthspast. Everything about her was marvellous; her peculiar shape, themystery which surrounded her, the incognito kept by the captain, theway Richard Shandon had received the proposition to direct her, thecareful selection of the crew, her unknown destination, suspectedonly by a few--all about her was strange. 

To a thinker, dreamer, or philosopher nothing is more affecting thanthe departure of a ship; his imagination plays round the sails, seesher struggles with the sea and the wind in the adventurous journeywhich does not always end in port; when in addition to the ordinaryincidents of departure there are extraordinary ones, even mindslittle given to credulity let their imagination run wild. 

So it was with the _Forward_, and though the generality of peoplecould not make the knowing remarks of Quartermaster Cornhill, it didnot prevent the ship forming the subject of Liverpool gossip for threelong months. The ship had been put in dock at Birkenhead, on theopposite side of the Mersey. The builders, Scott and Co. , amongstthe first in England, had received an estimate and detailed plan fromRichard Shandon; it informed them of the exact tonnage, dimensions, and store room that the brig was to have. They saw by the detailsgiven that they had to do with a consummate seaman. As Shandon hadconsiderable funds at his disposal, the work advanced rapidly, according to the recommendation of the owner. The brig was constructedof a solidity to withstand all tests; it was evident that she wasdestined to resist enormous pressure, for her ribs were built ofteak-wood, a sort of Indian oak, remarkable for its extreme hardness, and were, besides, plated with iron. Sailors asked why the hull ofa vessel made so evidently for resistance was not built of sheet-ironlike other steamboats, and were told it was because the mysteriousengineer had his own reasons for what he did. 

Little by little the brig grew on the stocks, and her qualities ofstrength and delicacy struck connoisseurs. As the sailors of the_Nautilus_ had remarked, her stern formed a right angle with her keel;her steel prow, cast in the workshop of R. Hawthorn, of Newcastle, shone in the sun and gave a peculiar look to the brig, though otherwiseshe had nothing particularly warlike about her. However, a 16-poundercannon was installed on the forecastle; it was mounted on a pivot, so that it might easily be turned in any direction; but neither thecannon nor the stern, steel-clad as they were, succeeded in lookingwarlike. 

On the 5th of February, 1860, this strange vessel was launched inthe midst of an immense concourse of spectators, and the trial tripwas perfectly successful. But if the brig was neither a man-of-war, a merchant vessel, nor a pleasure yacht--for a pleasure trip is notmade with six years' provisions in the hold--what was it? Was it avessel destined for another Franklin expedition? It could not be, because in 1859, the preceding year, Captain McClintock had returnedfrom the Arctic seas, bringing the certain proof of the loss of theunfortunate expedition. Was the _Forward_ going to attempt the famousNorth-West passage? What would be the use? Captain McClure haddiscovered it in 1853, and his lieutenant, Creswell, was the firstwho had the honour of rounding the American continent from Behring'sStraits to Davis's Straits. Still it was certain to competent judgesthat the _Forward_ was prepared to face the ice regions. Was it goingto the South Pole, farther than the whaler Weddell or Captain JamesRoss? But, if so, what for?

The day after the brig was floated her engine was sent from Hawthorn'sfoundry at Newcastle. It was of a hundred and twenty horse-power, with oscillating cylinders, taking up little room; its power wasconsiderable for a hundred-and-seventy-ton brig, with so much sail, too, and of such fleetness. Her trial trips had left no doubt on thatsubject, and even the boatswain, Johnson, had thought right to expresshis opinion to Clifton's friend--

"When the _Forward_ uses her engine and sails at the same time, hersails will make her go the quickest. "

Clifton's friend did not understand him, but he thought anythingpossible of a ship commanded by a dog. After the engine was installedon board, the stowage of provisions began. This was no slight work, for the vessel was to carry enough for six years. They consisted ofdry and salted meat, smoked fish, biscuit, and flour; mountains oftea and coffee were thrown down the shafts in perfect avalanches. Richard Shandon presided over the management of this precious cargolike a man who knows what he is about; all was stowed away, ticketed, and numbered in perfect order; a very large provision of the Indianpreparation called pemmican, which contains many nutritive elementsin a small volume, was also embarked. The nature of the provisionsleft no doubt about the length of the cruise, and the sight of thebarrels of lime-juice, lime-drops, packets of mustard, grains ofsorrel and _cochlearia_, all antiscorbutic, confirmed the opinionon the destination of the brig for the ice regions; their influenceis so necessary in Polar navigation. Shandon had doubtless receivedparticular instructions about this part of the cargo, which, alongwith the medicine-chest, he attended to particularly. 

Although arms were not numerous on board, the powder-magazineoverflowed. The one cannon could not pretend to use the contents. That gave people more to think about. There were also gigantic sawsand powerful instruments, such as levers, leaden maces, handsaws, enormous axes, etc. , without counting a considerable quantity ofblasting cylinders, enough to blow up the Liverpool Customs--all thatwas strange, not to say fearful, without mentioning rockets, signals, powder-chests, and beacons of a thousand different sorts. Thenumerous spectators on the wharfs of Prince's Docks admired likewisea long mahogany whaler, a tin _pirogue_ covered with gutta-percha, and a certain quantity of halkett-boats, a sort of indiarubber cloaksthat can be transformed into canoes by blowing in their lining. Expectation was on the _qui vive_, for the _Forward_ was going outwith the tide. 

CHAPTER II

AN UNEXPECTED LETTER

The letter received by Richard Shandon, eight months before, ran asfollows:--

 "ABERDEEN, "August 2nd, 1859. 

"To Mr. Richard Shandon, "Liverpool. 

"SIR, --I beg to advise you that the sum of sixteen thousand poundssterling has been placed in the hands of Messrs. Marcuart and Co. , bankers, of Liverpool. I join herewith a series of cheques, signedby me, which will allow you to draw upon the said Messrs. Marcuartfor the above-mentioned sum. You do not know me, but that is of noconsequence. I know you: that is sufficient. I offer you the placeof second on board the brig _Forward_ for a voyage that may be longand perilous. If you agree to my conditions you will receive a salaryof 500 pounds, and all through the voyage it will be augmentedone-tenth at the end of each year. The _Forward_ is not yet inexistence. You must have it built so as to be ready for sea at thebeginning of April, 1860, at the latest. Herewith is a detailed planand estimate. You will take care that it is scrupulously followed. The ship is to be built by Messrs. Scott and Co. , who will settlewith you. I particularly recommend you the choice of the _Forward's_crew; it will be composed of a captain, myself, of a second, you, of a third officer, a boatswain, two engineers, an ice pilot, eightsailors, and two others, eighteen men in all, comprising Dr. Clawbonny, of this town, who will introduce himself to you when necessary. The_Forward's_ crew must be composed of Englishmen without incumbrance;they should be all bachelors and sober--for no spirits, nor even beer, will be allowed on board--ready to undertake anything, and to bearwith anything. You will give the preference to men of a sanguineconstitution, as they carry a greater amount of animal heat. Offerthem five times the usual pay, with an increase of one-tenth for eachyear of service. At the end of the voyage five hundred pounds willbe placed at the disposition of each, and two thousand at yours. Thesefunds will be placed with Messrs. Marcuart and Co. The voyage willbe long and difficult, but honourable, so you need not hesitate toaccept my conditions. Be good enough to send your answer to K. Z. , Poste Restante, Goteborg, Sweden. 

"P. S. --On the 15th of February next you will receive a large Danishdog, with hanging lips, and tawny coat with black stripes. You willtake it on board and have it fed with oaten bread, mixed with tallowgrease. You will acknowledge the reception of the said dog to me underthe same initials as above, Poste Restante, Leghorn, Italy. 

"The captain of the _Forward_ will introduce himself to you whennecessary. When you are ready to start you will receive furtherinstructions. 

 "THE CAPTAIN OF THE 'FORWARD, '

 "K. Z. "

CHAPTER III

DR. CLAWBONNY

Richard Shandon was a good sailor; he had been commander of whalersin the Arctic seas for many years, and had a wide reputation for skill. He might well be astonished at such a letter, and so he was, butastonished like a man used to astonishments. He fulfilled, too, allthe required conditions: he had no wife, children, or relations; hewas as free as a man could be. Having no one to consult, he went straightto Messrs. Marcuart's bank. 

"If the money is there, " he said to himself, "I'll undertake the rest. "

He was received by the firm with all the attention due to a man withsixteen thousand pounds in their safes. Sure of that fact, Shandonasked for a sheet of letter-paper, and sent his acceptance in a largesailor's hand to the address indicated. The same day he put himselfin communication with the Birkenhead shipbuilders, and twenty-fourhours later the keel of the _Forward_ lay on the stocks in thedockyard. 

Richard Shandon was a bachelor of forty, robust, energetic, and brave, three sailor-like qualities, giving their possessor confidence, vigour, and _sang-froid_. He was reputed jealous and hard to bepleased, so he was more feared than loved by his sailors. But thisreputation did not increase the difficulty of finding a crew, forhe was known to be a clever commander. He was afraid that the mysteryof the enterprise would embarrass his movements, and he said tohimself, "The best thing I can do is to say nothing at all; thereare sea-dogs who will want to know the why and the wherefore of thebusiness, and as I know nothing myself, I can't tell them. K. Z. Isa queer fish, but after all he knows me, and has confidence in me;that's enough. As to the ship, she will be a handsome lass, and myname isn't Richard Shandon if she is not destined for the Frozen Seas. But I shall keep that to myself and my officers. "

Upon which Richard Shandon set about recruiting his crew upon theconditions of family and health exacted by the captain. He knew abrave fellow and capital sailor, named James Wall. Wall was aboutthirty, and had made more than one trip to the North Seas. Shandonoffered him the post of third officer, and he accepted blindly; allhe cared for was to sail, as he was devoted to his profession. Shandontold him and Johnson (whom he engaged as boatswain) all he knew aboutthe business. 

"Just as soon go there as anywhere else, " answered Wall. "If it'sto seek the North-West passage, many have been and come back. "

"Been, yes; but come back I don't answer for, " said Johnson; "butthat's no reason for not going. "

"Besides, if we are not mistaken in our conjectures, " said Shandon, "the voyage will be undertaken under good conditions. The _Forward's_a bonny lass, with a good engine, and will stand wear and tear. Eighteen men are all the crew we want. "

"Eighteen men?" said Johnson. "That's just the number that theAmerican, Kane, had on board when he made his famous voyage towardsthe North Pole. "

"It's a singular fact that there's always some private individualtrying to cross the sea from Davis's Straits to Behring's Straits. The Franklin expeditions have already cost England more than sevenhundred and sixty thousand pounds without producing any practicalresult. Who the devil means to risk his fortune in such an enterprise?"

"We are reasoning now on a simple hypothesis, " said Shandon. "I don'tknow if we are really going to the Northern or Southern Seas. Perhapswe are going on a voyage of discovery. We shall know more when Dr. Clawbonny comes; I daresay he will tell us all about it. "

"There's nothing for it but to wait, " answered Johnson; "I'll go andhunt up some solid subjects, captain; and as to their animal heat, I guarantee beforehand you can trust me for that. "

Johnson was a valuable acquisition; he understood the navigation ofthese high latitudes. He was quartermaster on board the _Phoenix_, one of the vessels of the Franklin expedition of 1853. He was witnessof the death of the French lieutenant Bellot, whom he had accompaniedin his expedition across the ice. Johnson knew the maritime populationof Liverpool, and started at once on his recruiting expedition. Shandon, Wall, and he did their work so well that the crew was completein the beginning of December. It had been a difficult task; many, tempted by the high pay, felt frightened at the risk, and more thanone enlisted boldly who came afterwards to take back his word andenlistment money, dissuaded by his friends from undertaking such anenterprise. All of them tried to pierce the mystery, and worriedShandon with questions; he sent them to Johnson. 

"I can't tell you what I don't know, " he answered invariably; "you'llbe in good company, that's all I can tell you. You can take it orleave it alone. "

And the greater number took it. 

"I have only to choose, " added the boatswain; "such salary has neverbeen heard of in the memory of sailors, and then the certainty offinding a handsome capital when we come back. Only think: it'stempting enough. "

"The fact is, " answered the sailor, "it is tempting; enough to liveon till the end of one's days. "

"I don't hide from you, " continued Johnson, "that the cruise willbe long, painful, and perilous; that is formally stated in ourinstructions, and you ought to know what you undertake; you will verylikely be required to attempt all that it is possible for human beingsto do, and perhaps more. If you are the least bit frightened, if youdon't think you may just as well finish yonder as here, you'd betternot enlist, but give way to a bolder man. "

"But, Mr. Johnson, " continued the sailor, for the want of somethingbetter to say, "at least you know the captain?"

"The captain is Richard Shandon till another comes. "

Richard Shandon, in his secret heart, hoped that the command wouldremain with him, and that at the last moment he should receive preciseinstructions as to the destination of the _Forward_. He did all hecould to spread the report in his conversations with his officers, or when following the construction of the brig as it grew in theBirkenhead dockyard, looking like the ribs of a whale turned upsidedown. Shandon and Johnson kept strictly to their instructionstouching the health of the sailors who were to form the crew; theyall looked hale and hearty, and had enough heat in their bodies tosuffice for the engine of the _Forward_; their supple limbs, theirclear and florid complexions were fit to react against the actionof intense cold. They were confident and resolute men, energeticallyand solidly constituted. Of course they were not all equally vigorous;Shandon had even hesitated about taking some of them, such as thesailors Gripper and Garry, and the harpooner Simpson, because theylooked rather thin; but, on the whole, their build was good; theywere a warm-hearted lot, and their engagement was signed. 

All the crew belonged to the same sect of the Protestant religion;during these long campaigns prayer in common and the reading of theBible have a good influence over the men and sustain them in the hourof discouragement; it was therefore important that they should beall of the same way of thinking. Shandon knew by experience the utilityof these practices, and their influence on the mind of the crew; theyare always employed on board ships that are intended to winter inthe Polar Seas. The crew once got together, Shandon and his twoofficers set about the provisions; they strictly followed theinstructions of the captain; these instructions were clear, precise, and detailed, and the least articles were put down with their qualityand quantity. Thanks to the cheques at the commander's disposition, every article was paid for at once with a discount of 8 per cent, which Richard carefully placed to the credit of K. Z. 

Crew, provisions, and cargo were ready by January, 1860; the _Forward_began to look shipshape, and Shandon went daily to Birkenhead. Onthe morning of the 23rd of January he was, as usual, on board oneof the Mersey ferry-boats with a helm at either end to prevent havingto turn it; there was a thick fog, and the sailors of the river wereobliged to direct their course by means of the compass, though thepassage lasts scarcely ten minutes. But the thickness of the fog didnot prevent Shandon seeing a man of short stature, rather fat, withan intelligent and merry face and an amiable look, who came up tohim, took him by the two hands, and shook them with an ardour, apetulance, and a familiarity "quite meridional, " as a Frenchman wouldhave said. But if this person did not come from the South, he hadgot his temperament there; he talked and gesticulated withvolubility; his thought must come out or the machine would burst. His eyes, small as those of witty men generally are, his mouth, largeand mobile, were safety-pipes which allowed him to give passage tohis overflowing thoughts; he talked, and talked, and talked so muchand so fast that Shandon couldn't understand a word he said. However, this did not prevent the _Forward's_ mate from recognising the littleman he had never seen before; a lightning flash traversed his mind, and when the other paused to take breath, Shandon made haste to getout the words, "Doctor Clawbonny!"

"Himself in person, commander! I've been at least half a quarter ofan hour looking for you, asking everybody everywhere! Just think howimpatient I got; five minutes more and I should have lost my head!And so you are the commander Richard? You really exist? You are nota myth? Your hand, your hand! I want to shake it again. It is RichardShandon's hand, and if there is a commander Shandon, there's a brig_Forward_ to command; and if he commands he will start, and if hestarts he'll take Dr. Clawbonny on board. "

"Well, yes, doctor, I am Richard Shandon; there is a brig _Forward_, and it will start. "

"That's logic, " answered the doctor, after taking in a large provisionof breathing air--"that's logic. And I am ready to jump for joy athaving my dearest wishes gratified. I've wanted to undertake sucha voyage. Now with you, commander----"

"I don't----" began Shandon. 

"With you, " continued Clawbonny, without hearing him, "we are sureto go far and not to draw back for a trifle. "

"But----" began Shandon again. 

"For you have shown what you are made of, commander; I know your deedsof service. You are a fine sailor!"

"If you will allow me----"

"No, I won't have your bravery, audacity, and skill put an instantin doubt, even by you! The captain who chose you for his mate is aman who knows what he's about, I can tell you. "

"But that's nothing to do with it, " said Shandon, impatient. 

"What is it, then? Don't keep me in suspense another minute. "

"You don't give me time to speak. Tell me, if you please, doctor, how it comes that you are to take part in the expedition of the_Forward_. "

"Read this letter, this worthy letter, the letter of a bravecaptain--very laconic, but quite sufficient. "

Saying which the doctor held out the following letter to Shandon:--

 "INVERNESS, "Jan. 22nd, 1860. 

"To Dr. Clawbonny. 

"If Dr. Clawbonny wishes to embark on board the _Forward_ for a longcruise, he may introduce himself to the commander, Richard Shandon, who has received orders concerning him. 

 "THE CAPTAIN OF THE 'FORWARD, '

 "K. Z. "

"This letter reached me this morning, and here I am, ready to embark. "

"But, doctor, do you know where we are going to?"

"I haven't the slightest idea, and I do not care so that it is somewhere. They pretend that I am learned; they are mistaken, commander. I knownothing, and if I have published a few books that don't sell badly, I ought not to have done it; the public is silly for buying them. I know nothing, I tell you. I am only an ignorant man. When I havethe offer of completing, or rather of going over again, my knowledgeof medicine, surgery, history, geography, botany, mineralogy, conchology, geodesy, chemistry, natural philosophy, mechanics, andhydrography, why I accept, of course. "

"Then, " said Shandon, disappointed, "you do not know where the_Forward_ is bound for?"

"Yes, I do; it is bound for where there is something to learn, todiscover, and to compare--where we shall meet with other customs, other countries, other nations, to study in the exercise of theirfunctions; it is going, in short, where I have never been. "

"But I want to know something more definite than that, " cried Shandon. 

"Well, I have heard that we are bound for the Northern Seas. "

"At least, " asked Shandon, "you know the captain?"

"Not the least bit in the world! But he is an honest fellow, you maybelieve me. "

The commander and the doctor disembarked at Birkenhead; the formertold the doctor all he knew about the situation of things, and themystery inflamed the imagination of the doctor. The sight of the brigcaused him transports of joy. From that day he stopped with Shandon, and went every day to pay a visit to the shell of the _Forward_. Besides, he was specially appointed to overlook the installation of the ship'smedicine-chest. For Dr. Clawbonny was a doctor, and a good one, thoughpractising little. At the age of twenty-five he was an ordinarypractitioner; at the age of forty he was a _savant_, well known inthe town; he was an influential member of all the literary andscientific institutions of Liverpool. His fortune allowed him todistribute counsels which were none the worse for being gratuitous;beloved as a man eminently lovable must always be, he had never wrongedany one, not even himself; lively and talkative, he carried his heartin his hand, and put his hand into that of everybody. When it wasknown in Liverpool that he was going to embark on board the _Forward_his friends did all they could to dissuade him, and only fixed himmore completely in his determination, and when the doctor wasdetermined to do anything no one could prevent him. From that timethe suppositions and apprehensions increased, but did not preventthe _Forward_ being launched on the 5th of February, 1860. Two monthslater she was ready to put to sea. On the 15th of March, as the letterof the captain had announced, a dog of Danish breed was sent by railwayfrom Edinburgh to Liverpool, addressed to Richard Shandon. The animalseemed surly, peevish, and even sinister, with quite a singular lookin his eyes. The name of the _Forward_ was engraved on his brass collar. The commander installed it on board the same day, and acknowledgedits reception to K. Z. At Leghorn. Thus, with the exception of thecaptain, the crew was complete. It was composed as follows:--

1. K. Z. , captain; 2. Richard Shandon, commander; 3. James Wall, thirdofficer; 4. Dr. Clawbonny; 5. Johnson, boatswain; 6. Simpson, harpooner; 7. Bell, carpenter; 8. Brunton, chief engineer; 9. Plover, second engineer; 10. Strong (negro), cook; 11. Foker, ice-master;12. Wolsten, smith; 13. Bolton, sailor; 14. Garry, sailor; 15. Clifton, sailor; 16. Gripper, sailor; 17. Pen, sailor; 18. Warren, stoker. 

CHAPTER IV

DOG-CAPTAIN

The day of departure arrived with the 5th of April. The admissionof the doctor on board had given the crew more confidence. They knewthat where the worthy doctor went they could follow. However, thesailors were still uneasy, and Shandon, fearing that some of themwould desert, wished to be off. With the coast out of sight, theywould make up their mind to the inevitable. 

Dr. Clawbonny's cabin was situated at the end of the poop, and occupiedall the stern of the vessel. The captain's and mate's cabins gaveupon deck. The captain's remained hermetically closed, after beingfurnished with different instruments, furniture, travellinggarments, books, clothes for changing, and utensils, indicated ina detailed list. According to the wish of the captain, the key ofthe cabin was sent to Lubeck; he alone could enter his room. 

This detail vexed Shandon, and took away all chance of the chiefcommand. As to his own cabin, he had perfectly appropriated it tothe needs of the presumed voyage, for he thoroughly understood theneeds of a Polar expedition. The room of the third officer was placedunder the lower deck, which formed a vast sleeping-room for thesailors' use; the men were very comfortably lodged, and would nothave found anything like the same convenience on board any other ship;they were cared for like the most priceless cargo: a vast stoveoccupied all the centre of the common room. Dr. Clawbonny was in hiselement; he had taken possession of his cabin on the 6th of February, the day after the _Forward_ was launched. 

"The happiest of animals, " he used to say, "is a snail, for it canmake a shell exactly to fit it; I shall try to be an intelligent snail. "

And considering that the shell was to be his lodging for a considerabletime, the cabin began to look like home; the doctor had a _savant's_or a child's pleasure in arranging his scientific traps. His books, his herbals, his set of pigeon-holes, his instruments of precision, his chemical apparatus, his collection of thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, rain-gauges, spectacles, compasses, sextants, maps, plans, flasks, powders, bottles for medicine-chest, were all classedin an order that would have shamed the British Museum. The space ofsix square feet contained incalculable riches: the doctor had onlyto stretch out his hand without moving to become instantaneously adoctor, a mathematician, an astronomer, a geographer, a botanist, or a conchologist. It must be acknowledged that he was proud of hismanagement and happy in his floating sanctuary, which three of histhinnest friends would have sufficed to fill. His friends came toit in such numbers that even a man as easy-going as the doctor mighthave said with Socrates, "My house is small, but may it please Heavennever to fill it with friends!"

To complete the description of the _Forward_ it is sufficient to saythat the kennel of the large Danish dog was constructed under thewindow of the mysterious cabin but its savage inhabitant preferredwandering between decks and in the hold; it seemed impossible to tamehim, and no one had been able to become his master; during the nighthe howled lamentably, making the hollows of the ship ring in a sinisterfashion. Was it regret for his absent master? Was it the instinctof knowing that he was starting for a perilous voyage? Was it apresentiment of dangers to come? The sailors decided that it was forthe latter reason, and more than one pretended to joke who believedseriously that the dog was of a diabolical kind. Pen, who was a brutalman, was going to strike him once, when he fell, unfortunately, against the angle of the capstan, and made a frightful wound in hishead. Of course this accident was placed to the account of thefantastic animal. Clifton, the most superstitious of the crew, madethe singular observation that when the dog was on the poop he alwayswalked on the windward side, and afterwards, when the brig was outat sea, and altered its tack, the surprising animal changed itsdirection with the wind the same as the captain of the _Forward_ wouldhave done in his place. Dr. Clawbonny, whose kindness and caresseswould have tamed a tiger, tried in vain to win the good graces ofthe dog; he lost his time and his pains. The animal did not answerto any name ever written in the dog calendar, and the crew ended bycalling him Captain, for he appeared perfectly conversant with shipcustoms; it was evident that it was not his first trip. From suchfacts it is easy to understand the boatswain's answer to Clifton'sfriend, and the credulity of those who heard it; more than one repeatedjokingly that he expected one day to see the dog take human shapeand command the manoeuvres with a resounding voice. 

If Richard Shandon did not feel the same apprehensions he was notwithout anxiety, and the day before the departure, in the eveningof April 5th, he had a conversation on the subject with the doctor, Wall, and Johnson in the poop cabin. These four persons were tastingtheir tenth grog, and probably their last, for the letter fromAberdeen had ordered that all the crew, from the captain to the stoker, should be teetotallers, and that there should be no wine, beer, norspirits on board except those given by the doctor's orders. Theconversation had been going on about the departure for the last hour. If the instructions of the captain were realised to the end, Shandonwould receive his last instructions the next day. 

"If the letter, " said the commander, "does not tell me the captain'sname, it must at least tell me the destination of the brig, or I shallnot know where to take her to. "

"If I were you, " said the impatient doctor, "I should start whetherI get a letter or no; they'll know how to send after you, you maydepend. "

"You are ready for anything, doctor; but if so, to what quarter ofthe globe should you set sail?"

"To the North Pole, of course; there's not the slightest doubt aboutthat. "

"Why should it not be the South Pole?" asked Wall. 

"The South Pole is out of the question. No one with any sense wouldsend a brig across the whole of the Atlantic. Just reflect a minute, and you'll see the impossibility. "

"The doctor has an answer to everything, " said Wall. 

"Well, we'll say north, " continued Shandon. "But where north? ToSpitzbergen or Greenland? Labrador or Hudson's Bay? Although alldirections end in insuperable icebergs, I am not less puzzled as towhich to take. Have you an answer to that, doctor?"

"No, " he answered, vexed at having nothing to say; "but if you don'tget a letter what shall you do?"

"I shall do nothing; I shall wait. "

"Do you mean to say you won't start?" cried Dr. Clawbonny, agitatinghis glass in despair. 

"Certainly I do. "

"And that would be the wisest plan, " said Johnson tranquilly, whilethe doctor began marching round the table, for he could not keep still;"but still, if we wait too long, the consequences may be deplorable;the season is good now if we are really going north, as we ought toprofit by the breaking up of the ice to cross Davis's Straits; besides, the crew gets more and more uneasy; the friends and companions ofour men do all they can to persuade them to leave the _Forward_, andtheir influence may be pernicious for us. "

"Besides, " added Wall, "if one of them deserted they all would, andthen I don't know how you would get another crew together. "

"But what can I do?" cried Shandon. 

"What you said you would do, " replied the doctor; "wait and wait tillto-morrow before you despair. The captain's promises have all beenfulfilled up to now with the greatest regularity, and there's noreason to believe we shan't be made acquainted with our destinationwhen the proper time comes. I haven't the slightest doubt thatto-morrow we shall be sailing in the Irish Channel, and I proposewe drink a last grog to our pleasant voyage. It begins in anunaccountable fashion, but with sailors like you there are a thousandchances that it will end well. "

And all four drank to their safe return. 

"Now, commander, " continued Johnson, "if you will allow me to adviseyou, you will prepare everything to start; the crew must think thatyou know what you are about. If you don't get a letter to-morrow, set sail; do not get up the steam, the wind looks like holding out, and it will be easy enough to sail; let the pilot come on board; goout of the docks with the tide, and anchor below Birkenhead; our menwon't be able to communicate with land, and if the devil of a lettercomes it will find us as easily there as elsewhere. "

"By heavens! you are right, Johnson!" cried the doctor, holding outhis hand to the old sailor. 

"So be it, " answered Shandon. 

Then each one entered his cabin, and waited in feverish sleep forthe rising of the sun. The next day the first distribution of letterstook place in the town, and not one bore the address of the commander, Richard Shandon. Nevertheless, he made his preparations fordeparture, and the news spread at once all over Liverpool, and, aswe have already seen, an extraordinary affluence of spectatorscrowded the wharfs of New Prince's Docks. Many of them came on boardto shake hands for the last time with a comrade, or to try and dissuadea friend, or to take a look at the brig, and to know its destination;they were disappointed at finding the commander more taciturn andreserved than ever. He had his reasons for that. 

Ten o'clock struck. Eleven followed. The tide began to go out thatday at about one o'clock in the afternoon. Shandon from the top ofthe poop was looking at the crowd with uneasy eyes, trying to readthe secret of his destiny on one of the faces. But in vain. The sailorsof the _Forward_ executed his orders in silence, looking at him allthe time, waiting for orders which did not come. Johnson went onpreparing for departure. The weather was cloudy and the sea rough;a south-easter blew with violence, but it was easy to get out of theMersey. 

At twelve o'clock nothing had yet been received. Dr. Clawbonny marchedup and down in agitation, looking through his telescope, gesticulating, impatient for the sea, as he said. He felt moved, though he struggled against it. Shandon bit his lips till the bloodcame. Johnson came up to him and said--

"Commander, if we want to profit by the tide, there is no time tobe lost; we shall not be clear of the docks for at least an hour. "

Shandon looked round him once more and consulted his watch. The twelveo'clock letters had been distributed. In despair he told Johnson tostart. The boatswain ordered the deck to be cleared of spectators, and the crowd made a general movement to regain the wharves whilethe last moorings were unloosed. Amidst the confusion a dog's barkwas distinctly heard, and all at once the animal broke through thecompact mass, jumped on to the poop, and, as a thousand spectatorscan testify, dropped a letter at Shandon's feet. 

"A letter!" cried Shandon. "_He_ is on board, then?"

"He was, that's certain, but he isn't now, " said Johnson, pointingto the deserted deck. 

Shandon held the letter without opening it in his astonishment. 

"But read it, read it, I say, " said the doctor. 

Shandon looked at it. The envelope had no postmark or date; it wasaddressed simply to:

 "RICHARD SHANDON, "Commander on board the brig

 "_Forward_. "

Shandon opened the letter and read as follows:--

"Sail for Cape Farewell. You will reach it by the 20th of April. Ifthe captain does not appear on board, cross Davis's Straits, and sailup Baffin's Sea to Melville Bay. 

 "THE CAPTAIN OF THE 'FORWARD, '

 "K. Z. "

Shandon carefully folded this laconic epistle, put it in his pocket, and gave the order for departure. His voice, which rang above theeast wind, had something solemn in it. 

Soon the _Forward_ had passed the docks, and directed by a Liverpoolpilot whose little cutter followed, went down the Mersey with thecurrent. The crowd precipitated itself on to the exterior wharf alongthe Victoria Docks in order to get a last glimpse of the strange brig. The two topsails, the foresail and the brigantine sail were rapidlyset up, and the _Forward_, worthy of its name, after having roundedBirkenhead Point, sailed with extraordinary fleetness into the IrishSea. 

CHAPTER V

OUT AT SEA

The wind was favourable, though it blew in April gales. The _Forward_cut through the waves, and towards three o'clock crossed the mailsteamer between Liverpool and the Isle of Man. The captain hailedfrom his deck the last adieu that the _Forward_ was destined to hear. 

At five o'clock the pilot left the command in the hands of RichardShandon, the commander of the brig, and regained his cutter, which, turning round, soon disappeared on the south-west. Towards eveningthe brig doubled the Calf of Man at the southern extremity of theisland. During the night the sea was very rough, but the _Forward_behaved well, left the point of Ayr to the north-west, and directedits course for the Northern Channel. Johnson was right; once out atsea the maritime instinct of the sailors gained the upper hand. Lifeon board went on with regularity. 

The doctor breathed in the sea air with delight; he walked aboutvigorously in the squalls, and for a _savant_ he was not a bad sailor. 

"The sea is splendid, " said he to Johnson, coming up on deck afterbreakfast. "I have made its acquaintance rather late, but I shallmake up for lost time. "

"You are right, Mr. Clawbonny. I would give all the continents ofthe world for a corner of the ocean. They pretend that sailors soonget tired of their profession, but I've been forty years on the seaand I love it as much as the first day. "

"It is a great pleasure to feel a good ship under one's feet, andif I'm not a bad judge the _Forward_ behaves herself well. "

"You judge rightly, doctor, " answered Shandon, who had joined thetalkers; "she is a good ship, and I acknowledge that a vessel destinedfor navigation amongst ice has never been better equipped. Thatreminds me that thirty years ago Captain James Ross, sailing for theNorth-West passage----"

"In the _Victory_, " added the doctor quickly, "a brig about the sametonnage as ours, with a steam-engine too. "

"What! you know about that?"

"Judge if I do, " answered the doctor. "Machines were then in theirinfancy, and the _Victory's_ kept her back; the captain, James Ross, after having vainly repaired it bit by bit, finished by taking itdown, and abandoned it at his first winter quarters. "

"The devil!" said Shandon. "You know all about it, I see. "

"Yes. I've read the works of Parry, Ross, and Franklin, and the reportsof McClure, Kennedy, Kane, and McClintock, and I remember somethingof what I've read. I can tell you, too, that this same McClintock, on board the _Fox_, a screw brig in the style of ours, went easierto his destination than any of the men who preceded him. "

"That's perfectly true, " answered Shandon; "he was a bold sailor wasMcClintock; I saw him at work. You may add that, like him, we shallfind ourselves in Davis's Straits in April, and if we succeed inpassing the ice our voyage will be considerably advanced. "

"Unless, " added the doctor, "it happens to us like it did to the _Fox_in 1857, to be caught the very first year by the ice in Baffin's Sea, and have to winter in the midst of the icebergs. "

"We must hope for better luck, " answered Johnson. "If a ship likethe _Forward_ can't take us where we want to go, we must renounceall hope for ever. "

"Besides, " said the doctor, "if the captain is on board he will knowbetter than we do what must be done. We know nothing as yet; his lettersays nothing about what our voyage is for. "

"It is a good deal to know which way to go, " answered Shandon quickly. "We can do without the captain and his instructions for another monthat least. Besides, you know what I think about it. "

"A short time ago, " said the doctor, "I thought like you that thecaptain would never appear, and that you would remain commander ofthe ship; but now----"

"Now what?" replied Shandon in an impatient tone. 

"Since the arrival of the second letter I have modified that opinion. "

"Why, doctor?"

"Because the letter tells you the route to follow, but leaves youignorant of the _Forward's_ destination; and we must know where weare going to. How the deuce are you to get a letter now we are outat sea? On the coast of Greenland the service of the post must leavemuch to wish for. I believe that our gentleman is waiting for us insome Danish settlement--at Holsteinborg or Uppernawik; he hasevidently gone there to complete his cargo of sealskins, buy hissledges and dog, and, in short, get together all the tackle wantedfor a voyage in the Arctic Seas. I shouldn't be at all surprised tosee him come out of his cabin one of these fine mornings and begincommanding the ship in anything but a supernatural way. "

"It's possible, " answered Shandon drily; "but in the meantime thewind is getting up, and I can't risk my gallant sails in such weather. "

Shandon left the doctor and gave the order to reef the topsails. 

"He takes it to heart, " said the doctor to the boatswain. 

"Yes, " answered the latter, "and it's a great pity, for you may beright, Mr. Clawbonny. "

In the evening of Saturday the _Forward_ doubled the Mull of Galloway, whose lighthouse shone to the north-east; during the night they leftthe Mull of Cantyre to the north, and Cape Fair, on the coast of Ireland, to the east. Towards three o'clock in the morning, the brig, leavingRathlin Island on her starboard side, disembogued by the NorthernChannel into the ocean. It was Sunday, the 8th of April, and the doctorread some chapters of the Bible to the assembled seamen. The windthen became a perfect hurricane, and tended to throw the brig on tothe Irish coast; she pitched, and rolled, and tossed, and if the doctorwas not seasick it was because he would not be, for nothing was easier. At noon Cape Malinhead disappeared towards the south; it was the lastEuropean ground that these bold sailors were to perceive, and morethan one watched it out of sight, destined never to see it again. They were then in 55 degrees 57 minutes latitude and 7 degrees 40minutes longitude by the Greenwich meridian. 

The storm spent itself out about nine o'clock in the evening; the_Forward_, like a good sailor, maintained her route north-west. Sheshowed by her behaviour during the day what her sailing capacitieswere, and as the Liverpool connoisseurs had remarked, she was aboveall, a sailing vessel. During the following days the _Forward_ gainedthe north-west with rapidity; the wind veered round south, and thesea had a tremendous swell on; the brig was then going along underfull sail. Some petrels and puffins came sailing over the poop; thedoctor skilfully shot one of the latter, and it fell, fortunately, on the deck. The harpooner, Simpson, picked it up and brought it toits owner. 

"Nasty game that, Mr. Clawbonny, " he said. 

"It will make an excellent meal, on the contrary, " said the doctor. 

"You don't mean to say you are going to eat that thing?"

"And so are you, old fellow, " said the doctor, laughing. 

"Poh!" replied Simpson, "but it's oily and rancid, like all othersea birds. "

"Never mind!" answered the doctor, "I have a peculiar way of cookingthat game, and if you recognise it for a sea bird I'll consent neverto kill another in my life. "

"Do you know how to cook, then?"

"A _savant_ ought to know how to do a little of everything. "

"You'd better take care, Simpson, " said the boatswain; "the doctor'sa clever man, and he'll make you take this puffin for a grouse. "

The fact is that the doctor was quite right about his fowl; he tookoff all the fat, which all lies under the skin, principally on thethighs, and with it disappeared the rancidity and taste of fish whichis so disagreeable in a sea bird. Thus prepared the puffin was declaredexcellent, and Simpson acknowledged it the first. 

During the late storm Richard Shandon had been able to judge of thequalities of his crew; he had watched each man narrowly, and knewhow much each was to be depended upon. 

James Wall was devoted to Richard, understood quickly and executedwell, but he might fail in initiative; he placed him in the thirdrank. Johnson was used to struggle with the sea; he was an old stagerin the Arctic Ocean, and had nothing to learn either in audacity or_sang-froid_. The harpooner, Simpson, and the carpenter, Bell, weresure men, faithful to duty and discipline. The ice-master, Foker, was an experienced sailor, and, like Johnson, was capable of renderingimportant service. Of the other sailors Garry and Bolton seemed tobe the best; Bolton was a gay and talkative fellow; Garry wasthirty-five, with an energetic face, but rather pale and sad-looking. The three sailors, Clifton, Gripper, and Pen, seemed less ardent andresolute; they easily grumbled. Gripper wanted to break hisengagement even before the departure of the _Forward_; a sort of shamekept him on board. If things went on all right, if there were nottoo many risks to run, no dangers to encounter, these three men mightbe depended upon; but they must be well fed, for it might be saidthat they were led by their stomachs. Although warned beforehand, they grumbled at having to be teetotallers; at their meals theyregretted the brandy and gin; it did not, however, make them sparethe tea and coffee, which was prodigally given out on board. As tothe two engineers, Brunton and Plover, and the stoker, Warren, therehad been nothing for them to do as yet, and Shandon could not tellanything about their capabilities. 

On the 14th of April the _Forward_ got into the grand current of theGulf Stream, which, after ascending the eastern coast of America toNewfoundland, inclines to the north-east along the coast of Norway. They were then in 57 degrees 37 minutes latitude by 22 degrees 58minutes longitude, at two hundred miles from the point of Greenland. The weather grew colder, and the thermometer descended to thirty-twodegrees, that is to say to freezing point. 

The doctor had not yet begun to wear the garments he destined forthe Arctic Seas, but he had donned a sailor's dress like the rest;he was a queer sight with his top-boots, in which his legs disappeared, his vast oilcloth hat, his jacket and trousers of the same; whendrenched with heavy rains or enormous waves the doctor looked likea sort of sea-animal, and was proud of the comparison. 

During two days the sea was extremely rough; the wind veered roundto the north-west, and delayed the progress of the _Forward_. Fromthe 14th to the 16th of April the swell was great, but on the Mondaythere came such a torrent of rain that the sea became calm immediately. Shandon spoke to the doctor about this phenomenon. 

"It confirms the curious observations of the whaler Scoresby, wholaid it before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which I have thehonour to be an honorary member. You see that when it rains the wavesare not very high, even under the influence of a violent wind, andwhen the weather is dry the sea is more agitated, even when thereis less wind. "

"But how is this phenomenon accounted for?"

"Very simply; it is not accounted for at all. "

Just then the ice-master, who was keeping watch on the crossbars ofthe topsails, signalled a floating mass on the starboard, at aboutfifteen miles distance before the wind. 

"An iceberg here!" cried the doctor. 

Shandon pointed his telescope in the direction indicated, andconfirmed the pilot's announcement. 

"That is curious!" said the doctor. 

"What! you are astonished at last!" said the commander, laughing. 

"I am surprised, but not astonished, " answered the doctor, laughing;"for the brig _Ann_, of Poole, from Greenspond, was caught in 1813in perfect ice-fields, in the forty-fourth degree of north latitude, and her captain, Dayernent, counted them by hundreds!"

"I see you can teach us something, even upon that subject. "

"Very little, " answered Clawbonny modestly; "it is only that ice hasbeen met with in even lower latitudes. "

"I knew that already, doctor, for when I was cabinboy on board thewar-sloop _Fly_----"

"In 1818, " continued the doctor, "at the end of March, almost in April, you passed between two large islands of floating ice under theforty-second degree of latitude. "

"Well, I declare you astonish me!" cried Shandon. 

"But the iceberg doesn't astonish me, as we are two degrees furthernorth. "

"You are a well, doctor, " answered the commander, "and all we haveto do is to be water-buckets. "

"You will draw me dry sooner than you think for; and now, Shandon, if we could get a nearer look at this phenomenon, I should be thehappiest of doctors. "

"Just so, Johnson, " said Shandon, calling his boatswain. "It seemsto me that the breeze is getting up. "

"Yes, commander, " answered Johnson; "we are making very little way, and the currents of Davis's Straits will soon be against us. "

"You are right, Johnson, and if we wish to be in sight of Cape Farewellon the 20th of April we must put the steam on, or we shall be thrownon the coasts of Labrador. Mr. Wall, will you give orders to lightthe fires?"

The commander's orders were executed, an hour afterwards the steamwas up, the sails were furled, and the screw cutting the waves sentthe _Forward_ against the north-west wind. 

CHAPTER VI

THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT

A short time after the flights of birds became more and more numerous. Petrels, puffins, and mates, inhabitants of those desolate quarters, signalled the approach of Greenland. The _Forward_ was rapidlynearing the north, leaving to her leeward a long line of black smoke. 

On Tuesday the 17th of April, about eleven o'clock in the morning, the ice-master signalled the first sight of the ice-blink; it wasabout twenty miles to the N. N. W. This glaring white strip wasbrilliantly lighted up, in spite of the presence of thick clouds inthe neighbouring parts of the sky. Experienced people on board couldmake no mistake about this phenomenon, and declared, from itswhiteness, that the blink was owing to a large ice-field, situatedat about thirty miles out of sight, and that it proceeded from thereflection of luminous rays. Towards evening the wind turned roundto the south, and became favourable; Shandon put on all sail, andfor economy's sake caused the fires to be put out. The _Forward_, under her topsails and foresails, glided on towards Cape Farewell. 

At three o'clock on the 18th they came across the ice-stream, anda white thick line of a glaring colour cut brilliantly the lines ofthe sea and sky. It was evidently drifting from the eastern coastof Greenland more than from Davis's Straits, for ice generally keepsto the west coast of Baffin's Sea. An hour afterwards the _Forward_passed in the midst of isolated portions of the ice-stream, and inthe most compact parts, the icebergs, though welded together, obeyedthe movements of the swell. The next day the man at the mastheadsignalled a vessel. It was the _Valkirien_, a Danish corvette, runningalongside the _Forward_, and making for the bank of Newfoundland. The current of the Strait began to make itself felt, and Shandon hadto put on sail to go up it. At this moment the commander, the doctor, James Wall, and Johnson were assembled on the poop examining thedirection and strength of the current. The doctor wanted to know ifthe current existed also in Baffin's Sea. 

"Without the least doubt, " answered Shandon, "and the sailing vesselshave much trouble to stem it. "

"Besides there, " added Wall, "you meet with it on the eastern coastof America, as well as on the western coast of Greenland. "

"There, " said the doctor, "that is what gives very singular reasonto the seekers of the North-West passage! That current runs aboutfive miles an hour, and it is a little difficult to suppose that itsprings from the bottom of a gulf. "

"It is so much the more probable, doctor, " replied Shandon, "thatif this current runs from north to south we find in Behring's Straitsa contrary current which runs from south to north, and which mustbe the origin of this one. "

"According to that, " replied the doctor, "we must admit that Americais totally unconnected with the Polar lands, and that the waters ofthe Pacific run round the coasts of America into the Atlantic. Onthe other hand, the greater elevation of the waters of the Pacificgives reason to the supposition that they fall into the Europeanseas. "

"But, " sharply replied Shandon, "there must be facts to establishthat theory, and if there are any, " added he with irony, "ouruniversally well-informed doctor ought to know them. "

"Well, " replied the above-mentioned, with amiable satisfaction, "ifit interests you, I can tell you that whales, wounded in Davis'sStraits, are caught some time afterwards in the neighbourhood ofTartary with the European harpoon still in their flanks. "

"And unless they have been able to double Cape Horn or the Cape ofGood Hope, " replied Shandon, "they must necessarily have rounded theseptentrional coasts of America--that's what I call indisputable, doctor. "

"However, if you were not convinced, my dear fellow, " said the doctor, smiling, "I could still produce other facts, such as drift-wood, ofwhich Davis's Straits are full, larch, aspen, and other tropical trees. Now we know that the Gulf Stream hinders those woods from enteringthe Straits. If, then, they come out of it they can only get in fromBehring's Straits. "

"I am convinced, doctor, and I avow that it would be difficult toremain incredulous with you. "

"Upon my honour, " said Johnson, "there's something that comes justin time to help our discussion. I perceive in the distance a lumpof wood of certain dimensions; if the commander permits it we'll haulit in, and ask it the name of its country. "

"That's it, " said the doctor, "the example after the rule. "

Shandon gave the necessary orders; the brig was directed towards thepiece of wood signalled, and soon afterwards, not without trouble, the crew hoisted it on deck. It was the trunk of a mahogany tree, gnawed right into the centre by worms, but for which circumstanceit would not have floated. 

"This is glorious, " said the doctor enthusiastically, "for as thecurrents of the Atlantic could not carry it to Davis's Straits, andas it has not been driven into the Polar basin by the streams ofseptentrional America, seeing that this tree grew under the Equator, it is evident that it comes in a straight line from Behring; and lookhere, you see those sea-worms which have eaten it, they belong toa hot-country species. "

"It is evident, " replied Wall, "that the people who do not believein the famous passage are wrong. "

"Why, this circumstance alone ought to convince them, " said thedoctor; "I will just trace you out the itinerary of that mahogany;it has been floated towards the Pacific by some river of the Isthmusof Panama or Guatemala, from thence the current has dragged it alongthe American coast as far as Behring's Straits, and in spite ofeverything it was obliged to enter the Polar Seas. It is neither soold nor so soaked that we need fear to assign a recent date to itssetting out; it has had the good luck to get clear of the obstaclesin that long suite of straits which lead out of Baffin's Bay, andquickly seized by the boreal current came by Davis's Straits to bemade prisoner by the _Forward_ to the great joy of Dr. Clawbonny, who asks the commander's permission to keep a sample of it. "

"Do so, " said Shandon, "but allow me to tell you that you will notbe the only proprietor of such a wreck. The Danish governor of theIsle of Disko----"

"On the coast of Greenland, " continued the doctor, "possesses amahogany table made from a trunk fished up under the samecircumstances. I know it, but I don't envy him his table, for if itwere not for the bother, I should have enough there for a wholebedroom. "

During the night, from Wednesday to Thursday, the wind blew withextreme violence, and driftwood was seen more frequently. Nearingthe coast offered many dangers at an epoch in which icebergs wereso numerous; the commander caused some of the sails to be furled, and the _Forward_ glided away under her foresail and foremast only. The thermometer sank below freezing-point. Shandon distributedsuitable clothing to the crew, a woollen jacket and trousers, aflannel shirt, wadmel stockings, the same as those the Norwegiancountry-people wear, and a pair of perfectly waterproof sea-boots. As to the captain, he contented himself with his natural fur, andappeared little sensible to the change in the temperature; he had, no doubt, gone through more than one trial of this kind, and besides, a Dane had no right to be difficult. He was seen very little, as hekept himself concealed in the darkest parts of the vessel. 

Towards evening the coast of Greenland peeped out through an openingin the fog. The doctor, armed with his glass, could distinguish foran instant a line of peaks, ridged with large blocks of ice; but thefog closed rapidly on this vision, like the curtain of a theatrefalling in the most interesting moment of the piece. 

On the morning of the 20th of April the _Forward_ was in sight ofan iceberg a hundred and fifty feet high, stranded there from timeimmemorial; the thaws had taken no effect on it, and had respectedits strange forms. Snow saw it; James Ross took an exact sketch ofit in 1829; and in 1851 the French lieutenant Bellot saw it from thedeck of the _Prince Albert_. Of course the doctor wished to keep amemento of the celebrated mountain, and made a clever sketch of it. It is not surprising that such masses should be stranded and adhereto the land, for to each foot above water they have two feet below, giving, therefore, to this one about eighty fathoms of depth. 

At last, under a temperature which at noon was only 12 degrees, undera snowy and foggy sky, Cape Farewell was perceived. The _Forward_arrived on the day fixed; if it pleased the unknown captain to comeand occupy his position in such diabolical weather he would have nocause to complain. 

"There you are, then, " said the doctor to himself, "cape so celebratedand so well named! Many have cleared it like us who were destinednever to see it again. Is it, then, an eternal adieu said to one'sEuropean friends? You have all passed it. Frobisher, Knight, Barlow, Vaughan, Scroggs, Barentz, Hudson, Blosseville, Franklin, Crozier, Bellot, never to come back to your domestic hearth, and that capehas been really for you the cape of adieus. "

It was about the year 970 that some navigators left Iceland anddiscovered Greenland. Sebastian Cabot forced his way as far aslatitude 56 degrees in 1498. Gaspard and Michel Cotreal, in 1500 and1502, went as far north as 60 degrees; and Martin Frobisher, in 1576, arrived as far as the bay that bears his name. To John Davis belongsthe honour of having discovered the Straits in 1585; and two yearslater, in a third voyage, that bold navigator and great whaler reachedthe sixty-third parallel, twenty-seven degrees from the Pole. 

Barentz in 1596, Weymouth in 1602, James Hall in 1605 and 1607, Hudson, whose name was given to that vast bay which hollows out so profoundlythe continent of America, James Poole, in 1611, advanced far intothe Strait in search of that North-West passage the discovery of whichwould have considerably shortened the track of communication betweenthe two worlds. Baffin, in 1616, found the Straits of Lancaster inthe sea that bears his own name; he was followed, in 1619, by JamesMunk, and in 1719 by Knight, Barlow, Vaughan, and Scroggs, of whomno news has ever been heard. In 1776 Lieutenant Pickersgill, sentout to meet Captain Cook, who tried to go up Behring's Straits, reachedthe sixty-eighth degree; the following year Young, for the samepurpose, went as far north as Woman's Island. 

Afterwards came Captain James Ross, who, in 1818, rounded the coastsof Baffin's Sea, and corrected the hydrographic errors of hispredecessors. Lastly, in 1819 and 1820, the celebrated Parry passedthrough Lancaster Straits, and penetrated, in spite of unnumbereddifficulties, as far as Melville Island, and won the prize of 5, 000pounds promised by Act of Parliament to the English sailors who wouldreach the hundred and seventeenth meridian by a higher latitude thanthe seventy-seventh parallel. 

In 1826 Beechey touched Chamisso Island; James Ross wintered from1829 to 1833 in Prince Regent Straits, and amongst other importantworks discovered the magnetic pole. During this time Franklin, byan overland route, traversed the septentrional coasts of America fromthe River Mackenzie to Turnagain Point. Captain Back followed in hissteps from 1823 to 1835, and these explorations were completed in1839 by Messrs. Dease and Simpson and Dr. Rae. 

Lastly, Sir John Franklin, wishing to discover the North-West passage, left England in 1845 on board the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_; hepenetrated into Baffin's Sea, and since his passage across DiskoIsland no news had been heard of his expedition. 

That disappearance determined the numerous investigations which havebrought about the discovery of the passage, and the survey of thesePolar continents, with such indented coast lines. The most daringEnglish, French, and American sailors made voyages towards theseterrible countries, and, thanks to their efforts, the maps of thatcountry, so difficult to make, figured in the list of the RoyalGeographical Society of London. The curious history of thesecountries was thus presented to the doctor's imagination as he leanedon the rail, and followed with his eyes the long track left by thebrig. Thoughts of the bold navigators weighed upon his mind, and hefancied he could perceive under the frozen arches of the icebergsthe pale ghosts of those who were no more. 

CHAPTER VII

DAVIS'S STRAITS

During that day the _Forward_ cut out an easy road amongst thehalf-broken ice; the wind was good, but the temperature very low;the currents of air blowing across the ice-fields brought with themtheir penetrating cold. The night required the severest attention;the floating icebergs drew together in that narrow pass; a hundredat once were often counted on the horizon; they broke off from theelevated coasts under the teeth of the grinding waves and theinfluence of the spring season, in order to go and melt or to beswallowed up in the depths of the ocean. Long rafts of wood, withwhich it was necessary to escape collision, kept the crew on the alert;the crow's nest was put in its place on the mizenmast; it consistedof a cask, in which the ice-master was partly hidden to protect himfrom the cold winds while he kept watch over the sea and the icebergsin view, and from which he signalled danger and sometimes gave ordersto the crew. The nights were short; the sun had reappeared since the31st of January in consequence of the refraction, and seemed to gethigher and higher above the horizon. But the snow impeded the view, and if it did not cause complete obscurity it rendered navigationlaborious. 

On the 21st of April Desolation Cape appeared in the midst of thickmists; the crew were tired out with the constant strain on theirenergies rendered necessary ever since they had got amongst theicebergs; the sailors had not had a minute's rest; it was soonnecessary to have recourse to steam to cut a way through the heaped-upblocks. The doctor and Johnson were talking together on the stern, whilst Shandon was snatching a few hours' sleep in his cabin. Clawbonny was getting information from the old sailor, whose numerousvoyages had given him an interesting and sensible education. Thedoctor felt much friendship for him, and the boatswain repaid it withinterest. 

"You see, Mr. Clawbonny, " Johnson used to say, "this country is notlike all others; they call it _Green_land, but there are very fewweeks in the year when it justifies its name. "

"Who knows if in the tenth century this land did not justify its name?"added the doctor. "More than one revolution of this kind has beenproduced upon our globe, and I daresay I should astonish you if Iwere to tell you that according to Icelandic chronicles two thousandvillages flourished upon this continent about eight or nine hundredyears ago. "

"You would so much astonish me, Mr. Clawbonny, that I should havesome difficulty in believing you, for it is a miserable country. "

"However miserable it may be, it still offers a sufficient retreatto its inhabitants, and even to civilised Europeans. "

"Without doubt! We met men at Disko and Uppernawik who consented tolive in such climates; but my ideas upon the matter were that theylived there by compulsion and not by choice. "

"I daresay you are right, though men get accustomed to everything, and the Greenlanders do not appear to me so unfortunate as the workmenof our large towns; they may be unfortunate, but they are certainlynot unhappy. I say unhappy, but the word does not translate my thought, for if these people have not the comforts of temperate countries, they are formed for a rude climate, and find pleasures in it whichwe are not able to conceive. "

"I suppose we must think so, as Heaven is just. Many, many voyageshave brought me upon these coasts, and my heart always shrinks atthe sight of these wretched solitudes; but they ought to have cheeredup these capes, promontories, and bays with more engaging names, forFarewell Cape and Desolation Cape are not names made to attractnavigators. "

"I have also remarked that, " replied the doctor, "but these nameshave a geographical interest that we must not overlook. They describethe adventures of those who gave them those names. Next to the namesof Davis, Baffin, Hudson, Ross, Parry, Franklin, and Bellot, if Imeet with Cape Desolation I soon find Mercy Bay; Cape Providence isa companion to Port Anxiety; Repulsion Bay brings me back to CapeEden, and leaving Turnagain Point I take refuge in Refuge Bay. I havethere under my eyes an unceasing succession of perils, misfortunes, obstacles, successes, despairs, and issues, mixed with great namesof my country, and, like a series of old-fashioned medals, thatnomenclature retraces in my mind the whole history of these seas. "

"You are quite right, Mr. Clawbonny, and I hope we shall meet withmore Success Bays than Despair Capes in our voyage. "

"I hope so too, Johnson; but, I say, is the crew come round a littlefrom its terrors?"

"Yes, a little; but since we got into the Straits they have begunto talk about the fantastic captain; more than one of them expectedto see him appear at the extremity of Greenland; but between you andme, doctor, doesn't it astonish you a little too?"

"It does indeed, Johnson. "

"Do you believe in the captain's existence?"

"Of course I do. "

"But what can be his reasons for acting in that manner?"

"If I really must tell you the whole of my thoughts, Johnson, I believethat the captain wished to entice the crew far enough out to preventthem being able to come back. Now if he had been on board when westarted they would all have wanted to know our destination, and hemight have been embarrassed. "

"But why so?"

"Suppose he should wish to attempt some superhuman enterprise, andto penetrate where others have never been able to reach, do you believeif the crew knew it they would ever have enlisted? As it is, havinggot so far, going farther becomes a necessity. "

"That's very probable, Mr. Clawbonny. I have known more than oneintrepid adventurer whose name alone was a terror, and who would neverhave found any one to accompany him in his perilous expeditions----"

"Excepting me, " ventured the doctor. 

"And me, after you, " answered Johnson, "and to follow you; I canventure to affirm that our captain is amongst the number of suchadventurers. No matter, we shall soon see; I suppose the unknown willcome as captain on board from the coast of Uppernawik or MelvilleBay, and will tell us at last where it is his good pleasure to conductthe ship. "

"I am of your opinion, Johnson, but the difficulty will be to getas far as Melville Bay. See how the icebergs encircle us from everypoint! They scarcely leave a passage for the _Forward_. Just examinethat immense plain over there. "

"The whalers call that in our language an ice-field, that is to saya continued surface of ice the limits of which cannot be perceived. "

"And on that side, that broken field, those long pieces of ice moreor less joined at their edges?"

"That is a pack; if it was of a circular form we should call it apatch; and, if the form was longer, a stream. "

"And there, those floating icebergs?"

"Those are drift-ice; if they were a little higher they would beicebergs or hills; their contact with vessels is dangerous, and mustbe carefully avoided. Here, look over there: on that ice-field thereis a protuberance produced by the pressure of the icebergs; we callthat a hummock; if that protuberance was submerged to its base weshould call it a calf. It was very necessary to give names to allthose forms in order to recognise them. "

"It is truly a marvellous spectacle!" exclaimed the doctor, contemplating the wonders of the Boreal Seas; "there is a field forthe imagination in such pictures!"

"Yes, " answered Johnson, "ice often takes fantastic shapes, and ourmen are not behindhand in explaining them according to their ownnotions. "

"Isn't that assemblage of ice-blocks admirable? Doesn't it look likea foreign town, an Eastern town, with its minarets and mosques underthe pale glare of the moon? Further on there is a long series of Gothicvaults, reminding one of Henry the Seventh's chapel or the Housesof Parliament. "

"They would be houses and towns very dangerous to inhabit, and wemust not sail too close to them. Some of those minarets yonder totteron their base, and the least of them would crush a vessel like the_Forward_. "

"And yet sailors dared to venture into these seas before they hadsteam at their command! How ever could a sailing vessel be steeredamongst these moving rocks?"

"Nevertheless, it has been accomplished, Mr. Clawbonny. When the windbecame contrary--and that has happened to me more than once--wequietly anchored to one of those blocks, and we drifted more or lesswith it and waited for a favourable moment to set sail again. I mustacknowledge that such a manner of voyaging required months, whilstwith a little good fortune we shall only want a few days. "

"It seems to me, " said the doctor, "that the temperature has a tendencyto get lower. "

"That would be a pity, " answered Johnson, "for a thaw is necessaryto break up these masses and drive them away into the Atlantic; besides, they are more numerous in Davis's Straits, for the sea gets narrowerbetween Capes Walsingham and Holsteinborg; but on the other side ofthe 67th degree we shall find the seas more navigable during the monthsof May and June. "

"Yes; but first of all we must get to the other side. "

"Yes, we must get there, Mr. Clawbonny. In June and July we shouldhave found an open passage, like the whalers do, but our orders wereprecise; we were to be here in April. I am very much mistaken if ourcaptain has not his reasons for getting us out here so early. "

The doctor was right in stating that the temperature was lowering;the thermometer at noon only indicated 6 degrees, and a north-westbreeze was getting up, which, although it cleared the sky, assistedthe current in precipitating the floating masses of ice into the pathof the _Forward_. All of them did not obey the same impulsion, andit was not uncommon to encounter some of the highest masses driftingin an opposite direction, seized at their base by an undercurrent. 

It is easy to understand the difficulties of this kind of navigation;the engineers had not a minute's rest; the engines were worked fromthe deck by means of levers, which opened, stopped, and reversed themaccording to the orders of the officers on watch. Sometimes the brighad to hasten through an opening in the ice-fields, sometimes tostruggle against the swiftness of an iceberg which threatened to closethe only practicable issue, or, again, some block, suddenlyoverthrown, compelled the brig to back quickly so as not to be crushedto pieces. This mass of ice, carried along, broken up and amalgamatedby the northern current, crushed up the passage, and if seized bythe frost would oppose an impassable barrier to the passage of the_Forward_. 

Birds were found in innumerable quantities on these coasts, petrelsand other sea-birds fluttered about here and there with deafeningcries, a great number of big-headed, short-necked sea-gulls wereamongst them; they spread out their long wings and braved in theirplay the snow whipped by the hurricane. This animation of the wingedtribe made the landscape more lively. 

Numerous pieces of wood were floating to leeway, clashing with noise;a few enormous, bloated-headed sharks approached the vessel, butthere was no question of chasing them, although Simpson, the harpooner, was longing to have a hit at them. Towards evening several seals madetheir appearance, nose above water, swimming between the blocks. 

On the 22nd the temperature again lowered; the _Forward_ put on allsteam to catch the favourable passes: the wind was decidedly fixedin the north-west; all sails were furled. 

During that day, which was Sunday, the sailors had little to do. Afterthe reading of Divine service, which was conducted by Shandon, thecrew gave chase to sea-birds, of which they caught a great number. They were suitably prepared according to the doctor's method, andfurnished an agreeable increase of provisions to the tables of theofficers and crew. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon the _Forward_ had attained Thinde Sael, Sukkertop Mountain; the sea was very rough; from time totime a vast and inopportune fog fell from the grey sky; however, atnoon an exact observation could be taken. The vessel was in 65 degrees20 minutes latitude by 54 degrees 22 minutes longitude. It wasnecessary to attain two degrees more in order to meet with freer andmore favourable navigation. 

During the three following days, the 24th, 25th, and 26th of April, the _Forward_ had a continual struggle with the ice; the working ofthe machines became very fatiguing. The steam was turned off quicklyor got up again at a moment's notice, and escaped whistling from itsvalves. During the thick mist the nearing of icebergs was only knownby dull thundering produced by the avalanches; the brig was instantlyveered; it ran the risk of being crushed against the heaps offresh-water ice, remarkable for its crystal transparency, and as hardas a rock. 

Richard Shandon never missed completing his provision of water byembarking several tons of ice every day. The doctor could not accustomhimself to the optical delusions that refraction produces on thesecoasts. An iceberg sometimes appeared to him like a small white lumpwithin reach, when it was at least at ten or twelve miles' distance. He endeavoured to accustom his eyesight to this singular phenomenon, so that he might be able to correct its errors rapidly. 

At last the crew were completely worn out by their labours in haulingthe vessel alongside of the ice-fields and by keeping it free fromthe most menacing blocks by the aid of long perches. Nevertheless, the _Forward_ was still held back in the impassable limits of thePolar Circle on Friday, the 27th of April. 

CHAPTER VIII

GOSSIP OF THE CREW

However, the _Forward_ managed, by cunningly slipping into narrowpassages, to gain a few more minutes north; but instead of avoidingthe enemy, it was soon necessary to attack it. The ice-fields, severalmiles in extent, were getting nearer, and as these moving heaps oftenrepresent a pressure of more than ten millions of tons, it wasnecessary to give a wide berth to their embraces. The ice-saws wereat once installed in the interior of the vessel, in such a manneras to facilitate immediate use of them. Part of the crewphilosophically accepted their hard work, but the other complainedof it, if it did not refuse to obey. At the same time that they assistedin the installation of the instruments, Garry, Bolton, Pen and Gripperexchanged their opinions. 

"By Jingo!" said Bolton gaily, "I don't know why the thought strikesme that there's a very jolly tavern in Water-street where it'scomfortable to be between a glass of gin and a bottle of porter. Can'tyou imagine it, Gripper?"

"To tell you the truth, " quickly answered the questioned sailor, whogenerally professed to be in a bad temper, "I don't imagine it here. "

"It's for the sake of talking, Gripper; it's evident that the snowtowns Dr. Clawbonny admires so don't contain the least public wherea poor sailor can get a half-pint of brandy. "

"That's sure enough, Bolton; and you may as well add that there'snothing worth drinking here. It's a nice idea to deprive men of theirgrog when they are in the Northern Seas. "

"But you know, " said Garry, "that the doctor told us it was to preventus getting the scurvy. It's the only way to make us go far. "

"But I don't want to go far, Garry; it's pretty well to have comethis far without trying to go where the devil is determined we shan't. "

"Well, we shan't go, that's all, " replied Pen. "I declare I've almostforgotten the taste of gin. "

"But remember what the doctor says, " replied Bolton. 

"It's all very fine for them to talk. It remains to be seen if itisn't an excuse for being skinny with the drink. "

"Pen may be right, after all, " said Gripper. 

"His nose is too red for that, " answered Bolton. "Pen needn't grumbleif it loses a little of its colour in the voyage. "

"What's my nose got to do with you?" sharply replied the sailor, attacked in the most sensitive place. "My nose doesn't need any ofyour remarks; take care of your own. "

"Now, then, don't get angry, Pen; I didn't know your nose was so touchy. I like a glass of whisky as well as anybody, especially in such atemperature; but if I know it'll do me more harm than good, I gowithout. "

"You go without, " said Warren, the stoker; "but everyone don't gowithout. "

"What do you mean, Warren?" asked Garry, looking fixedly at him. 

"I mean that for some reason or other there are spirits on board, and I know they don't go without in the stern. "

"And how do you know that?" asked Garry. 

Warren did not know what to say: he talked for the sake of talking. 

"You see Warren don't know anything about it, Garry, " said Bolton. 

"Well, " said Pen, "we'll ask the commander for a ration of gin; we'veearned it well and we'll see what he says. "

"I wouldn't if I were you, " answered Garry. 

"Why?" cried Pen and Gripper. 

"Because he'll refuse. You knew you weren't to have any when youenlisted; you should have thought of it then. "

"Besides, " replied Bolton, who took Garry's part because he likedhis character, "Richard Shandon isn't master on board; he obeys, likeus. "

"Who is master if he isn't?"

"The captain. "

"Always that unfortunate captain!" exclaimed Pen. "Don't you see thaton these ice-banks there's no more a captain than there is a public?It's a polite way of refusing us what we've a right to claim. "

"But if there's a captain, " replied Bolton, "I'll bet two months'pay we shall see him before long. "

"I should like to tell the captain a bit of my mind, " said Pen. 

"Who's talking about the captain?" said a new-comer. It was Clifton, the sailor, a superstitious and envious man. "Is anything new knownabout the captain?" he asked. 

"No, " they all answered at once. 

"Well, I believe we shall find him one fine morning installed in hiscabin, and no one will know how he got there. "

"Get along, do!" replied Bolton. "Why, Clifton, you imagine that he'sa hobgoblin--a sort of wild child of the Highlands. "

"Laugh as much as you like, Bolton, you won't change my opinion. Everyday as I pass his cabin I look through the keyhole. One of these finemornings I shall come and tell you what he's like. "

"Why, he'll be like everyone else, " said Pen, "and if he thinks he'llbe able to do what he likes with us, he'll find himself mistaken, that's all!"

"Pen don't know him yet, " said Bolton, "and he's beginning to quarrelwith him already. "

"Who doesn't know him?" said Clifton, looking knowing; "I don't knowthat he don't!"

"What the devil do you mean?" asked Gripper. 

"I know very well what I mean. "

"But we don't. "

"Well, Pen has quarrelled with him before. "

"With the captain?"

"Yes, the dog-captain--it's all one. "

The sailors looked at one another, afraid to say anything. 

"Man or dog, " muttered Pen, "I declare that that animal will havehis account one of these days. "

"Come, Clifton, " asked Bolton seriously, "you don't mean to say thatyou believe the dog is the real captain?"

"Indeed I do, " answered Clifton with conviction. "If you noticedthings like I do, you would have noticed what a queer beast it is. "

"Well, tell us what you've noticed. "

"Haven't you noticed the way he walks on the poop with such an airof authority, looking up at the sails as if he were on watch?"

"That's true enough, " added Gripper, "and one evening I actually foundhim with his paws on the paddle-wheel. "

"You don't mean it!" said Bolton. 

"And now what do you think he does but go for a walk on the ice-fields, minding neither the bears nor the cold?"

"That's true enough, " said Bolton. 

"Do you ever see that 'ere animal, like an honest dog, seek men'scompany, sneak about the kitchen, and set his eyes on Mr. Strong when'she taking something good to the commander? Don't you hear him in thenight when he goes away two or three miles from the vessel, howlingfit to make your blood run cold, as if it weren't easy enough to feelthat sensation in such a temperature as this? Again, have you everseen him feed? He takes nothing from any one. His food is alwaysuntouched and unless a secret hand feeds him on board, I may say thathe lives without eating, and if he's not unearthly, I'm a fool!"

"Upon my word, " said Bell, the carpenter, who had heard all Clifton'sreasoning, "I shouldn't be surprised if such was the case. " The othersailors were silenced. 

"Well, at any rate, where's the _Forward_ going to?"

"I don't know anything about it, " replied Bell. "Richard Shandon willreceive the rest of his instructions in due time. "

"But from whom?"

"From whom?"

"Yes, how?" asked Bolton, becoming pressing. 

"Now then, answer, Bell!" chimed in all the other sailors. 

"By whom? how? Why, I don't know, " said the carpenter, embarrassedin his turn. 

"Why, by the dog-captain, " exclaimed Clifton. "He has written oncealready; why shouldn't he again? If I only knew half of what that'ere animal knows, I shouldn't be embarrassed at being First Lordof the Admiralty!"

"So then you stick to your opinion that the dog is the captain?"

"Yes. "

"Well, " said Pen in a hoarse voice, "if that 'ere animal don't wantto turn up his toes in a dog's skin, he's only got to make haste andbecome a man, or I'm hanged if I don't settle him. "

"What for?" asked Garry. 

"Because I choose, " replied Pen brutally; "besides, it's no businessof any one. "

"Enough talking, my boys, " called out Mr. Johnson, interfering justin time, for the conversation was getting hot. "Get on with your work, and set up your saws quicker than that. We must clear the iceberg. "

"What! on a Friday?" replied Clifton, shrugging his shoulders. "You'll see she won't get over the Polar circle as easily as youthink. "

The efforts of the crew were almost powerless during the whole day. The _Forward_ could not separate the ice-fields even by going againstthem full speed, and they were obliged to anchor for the night. OnSaturday the temperature lowered again under the influence of aneasterly wind. The weather cleared up, and the eye could sweep overthe white plains in the distance, which the reflection of the sun'srays rendered dazzling. At seven in the morning the thermometer markedeight degrees below zero. The doctor was tempted to stay quietly inhis cabin, and read the Arctic voyages over again; but, accordingto his custom, he asked himself what would be the most disagreeablething he could do, which he settled was to go on deck and assist themen to work in such a temperature. Faithful to the line of conducthe had traced out for himself, he left his well-warmed cabin and cameto help in hauling the vessel. His was a pleasant face, in spite ofthe green spectacles by which he preserved his eyes from the bitingof the reflected rays; in his future observations he was alwayscareful in making use of his snow spectacles, in order to avoidophthalmia, very frequent in these high latitudes. 

Towards evening the _Forward_ had made several miles further north, thanks to the activity of the men and Shandon's skill, which madehim take advantage of every favourable circumstance; at midnight hehad got beyond the sixty-sixth parallel, and the fathom line declaredtwenty-three fathoms of water; Shandon discovered that he was on theshoal where Her Majesty's ship _Victoria_ struck, and that land wasdrawing near, thirty miles to the east. But now the heaps of ice, which up till now had been motionless, divided and began to move;icebergs seemed coming from every point of the horizon; the brig wasentangled in a series of moving rocks, the crushing force of whichit was impossible to resist. Moving became so difficult that Garry, the best helmsman, took the wheel; the mountains had a tendency toclose up behind the brig; it then became essential to cut throughthe floating ice, and prudence as well as duty ordered them to goahead. Difficulties became greater from the impossibility thatShandon found in establishing the direction of the vessel amongstsuch changing points, which kept moving without offering one firmperspective. The crew was divided into two tacks, larboard andstarboard; each one, armed with a long perch with an iron point, droveback the two threatening blocks. Soon the _Forward_ entered into apass so narrow, between two high blocks, that the extremity of heryards struck against the walls, hard as rock; by degrees she entangledherself in the midst of a winding valley, filled up with eddies ofsnow, whilst the floating ice was crashing and splitting with sinistercracklings. But it soon became certain that there was no egress fromthis gullet. An enormous block, caught in the channel, was drivingrapidly on to the _Forward_! It seemed impossible to avoid it, andequally impossible to back out along a road already obstructed. 

Shandon and Johnson, standing on the prow, were contemplating theposition. Shandon was pointing with his right hand at the directionthe helmsman was to take, and with his left was conveying to JamesWall, posted near the engineer, his orders for the working of themachine. 

"How will this end?" asked the doctor of Johnson. 

"As it may please God, " replied the boatswain. 

The block of ice, at least a hundred feet high, was only about a cable'slength from the _Forward_, and threatened to pound her under it. 

"Cursed luck!" exclaimed Pen, swearing frightfully. 

"Silence!" exclaimed a voice which it was impossible to recognisein the midst of the storm. 

The block seemed to be precipitating itself upon the brig; there wasa moment of undefinable anguish; the men forsook their poles andflocked to the stern in spite of Shandon's orders. 

Suddenly a frightful sound was heard; a genuine waterspout fell upondeck, heaved up by an enormous wave. A cry of terror rang out fromthe crew whilst Garry, at the helm, held the _Forward_ in a straightline in spite of the frightful incumbrance. When their frightenedlooks were drawn towards the mountain of ice it had disappeared; thepass was free, and further on a long channel, illuminated by theoblique rays of the sun, allowed the brig to pursue her track. 

"Well, Mr. Clawbonny, " said Johnson, "can you explain to me the causeof that phenomenon?"

"It is a very simple one, " answered the doctor, "and happens veryoften. When those floating bodies are disengaged from each other bythe thaw, they sail away separately, maintaining their balance; butby degrees, as they near the south, where the water is relativelywarmer, their base, shaken by the collision with other icebergs, begins to melt and weaken; it then happens that their centre of gravityis displaced, and, naturally, they overturn. Only, if that one hadturned over two minutes later, it would have crushed our vessel topieces. "

CHAPTER IX

NEWS

The Polar circle was cleared at last. On the 30th of April, at midday, the _Forward_ passed abreast of Holsteinborg; picturesque mountainsrose up on the eastern horizon. The sea appeared almost free fromicebergs, and the few there were could easily be avoided. The windveered round to the south-east, and the brig, under her mizensail, brigantine, topsails, and her topgallant sail, sailed up Baffin'sSea. It had been a particularly calm day, and the crew were able totake a little rest. Numerous birds were swimming and fluttering aboutround the vessel; amongst others, the doctor observed some_alca-alla_, very much like the teal, with black neck, wings and back, and white breast; they plunged with vivacity, and their immersionoften lasted forty seconds. 

The day would not have been remarkable if the following fact, howeverextraordinary it may appear, had not occurred on board. At six o'clockin the morning Richard Shandon, re-entering his cabin after havingbeen relieved, found upon the table a letter with this address:

 "To the Commander, "RICHARD SHANDON, "On board the 'FORWARD, '

 "Baffin's Sea. "

Shandon could not believe his own eyes, and before reading such astrange epistle he caused the doctor, James Wall and Johnson to becalled, and showed them the letter. 

"That grows very strange, " said Johnson. 

"It's delightful!" thought the doctor. 

"At last, " cried Shandon, "we shall know the secret. "

With a quick hand he tore the envelope and read as follows:

"COMMANDER, --The captain of the _Forward_ is pleased with thecoolness, skill, and courage that your men, your officers, andyourself have shown on the late occasions, and begs you to giveevidence of his gratitude to the crew. 

"Have the goodness to take a northerly direction towards MelvilleBay, and from thence try and penetrate into Smith's Straits. 

 "THE CAPTAIN OF THE _Forward_, "K. Z. 

 "Monday, April 30th, "Abreast of Cape Walsingham. "

"Is that all?" cried the doctor. 

"That's all, " replied Shandon, and the letter fell from his hands. 

"Well, " said Wall, "this chimerical captain doesn't even mentioncoming on board, so I conclude that he never will come. "

"But how did this letter get here?" said Johnson. 

Shandon was silent. 

"Mr. Wall is right, " replied the doctor, after picking up the letterand turning it over in every direction; "the captain won't come onboard for an excellent reason----"

"And what's that?" asked Shandon quickly. 

"Because he is here already, " replied the doctor simply. 

"Already!" said Shandon. "What do you mean?"

"How do you explain the arrival of this letter if such is not thecase?"

Johnson nodded his head in sign of approbation. 

"It is not possible!" said Shandon energetically. "I know every manof the crew. We should have to believe, in that case, that the captainhas been with us ever since we set sail. It is not possible, I tellyou. There isn't one of them that I haven't seen for more than twoyears in Liverpool; doctor, your supposition is inadmissible. "

"Then what do you admit, Shandon?"

"Everything but that! I admit that the captain, or one of his men, has profited by the darkness, the fog, or anything you like, in orderto slip on board; we are not very far from land; there are Esquimauxkayaks that pass unperceived between the icebergs; someone may havecome on board and left the letter; the fog was intense enough to favourtheir design. "

"And to hinder them from seeing the brig, " replied the doctor; "ifwe were not able to perceive an intruder slip on board, how could_he_ have discovered the _Forward_ in the midst of a fog?"

"That is evident, " exclaimed Johnson. 

"I come back, then, " said the doctor, "to my first hypothesis. Whatdo you think about it, Shandon?"

"I think what you please, " replied Shandon fiercely, "with theexception of supposing that this man is on board my vessel. "

"Perhaps, " added Wall, "there may be amongst the crew a man of hiswho has received instructions from him. "

"That's very likely, " added the doctor. 

"But which man?" asked Shandon. "I tell you I have known all my mena long time. "

"Anyhow, " replied Johnson, "if this captain shows himself, let himbe man or devil, we'll receive him; but we have another piece ofinformation to draw from this letter. "

"What's that?" asked Shandon. 

"Why, that we are to direct our path not only towards Melville Bay, but again into Smith's Straits. "

"You are right, " answered the doctor. 

"Smith's Straits?" echoed Shandon mechanically. 

"It is evident, " replied Johnson, "that the destination of the_Forward_ is not to seek a North-West passage, as we shall leave toour left the only track that leads to it--that is to say, LancasterStraits; that's what forebodes us difficult navigation in unknownseas. "

"Yes, Smith's Straits, " replied Shandon, "that's the route theAmerican Kane followed in 1853, and at the price of what dangers!For a long time he was thought to be lost in those dreadful latitudes!However, as we must go, go we must. But where? how far? To the Pole?"

"And why not?" cried the doctor. 

The idea of such an insane attempt made the boatswain shrug hisshoulders. 

"After all, " resumed James Wall, "to come back to the captain, ifhe exists, I see nowhere on the coast of Greenland except Disko orUppernawik where he can be waiting for us; in a few days we shallknow what we may depend upon. "

"But, " asked the doctor of Shandon, "aren't you going to make knownthe contents of that letter to the crew?"

"With the commander's permission, " replied Johnson, "I should donothing of the kind. "

"And why so?" asked Shandon. 

"Because all that mystery tends to discourage the men: they arealready very anxious about the fate of our expedition, and if thesupernatural side of it is increased it may produce very seriousresults, and in a critical moment we could not rely upon them. Whatdo you say about it, commander?"

"And you, doctor--what do you think?" asked Shandon. 

"I think Johnson's reasoning is just. "

"And you, Wall?"

"Unless there's better advice forthcoming, I shall stick to theopinion of these gentlemen. "

Shandon reflected seriously during a few minutes, and read the letterover again carefully. 

"Gentlemen, " said he, "your opinion on this subject is certainlyexcellent, but I cannot adopt it. "

"Why not, Shandon?" asked the doctor. 

"Because the instructions of this letter are formal: they commandme to give the captain's congratulations to the crew, and up tillto-day I have always blindly obeyed his orders in whatever mannerthey have been transmitted to me, and I cannot----"

"But----" said Johnson, who rightly dreaded the effect of such acommunication upon the minds of the sailors. 

"My dear Johnson, " answered Shandon, "your reasons are excellent, but read--'he begs you to give evidence of his gratitude to the crew. '"

"Act as you think best, " replied Johnson, who was besides a very strictobserver of discipline. "Are we to muster the crew on deck?"

"Do so, " replied Shandon. 

The news of a communication having been received from the captainspread like wildfire on deck; the sailors quickly arrived at theirpost, and the commander read out the contents of the mysterious letter. The reading of it was received in a dead silence; the crew dispersed, a prey to a thousand suppositions. Clifton had heard enough to givehimself up to all the wanderings of his superstitious imagination;he attributed a considerable share in this incident to the dog-captain, and when by chance he met him in his passage he never failed to salutehim. "I told you the animal could write, " he used to say to the sailors. No one said anything in answer to this observation, and even Bell, the carpenter himself, would not have known what to answer. 

Nevertheless it was certain to all that, in default of the captain, his spirit or his shadow watched on board; and henceforward the wisestof the crew abstained from exchanging their opinions about him. 

On the 1st of May, at noon, they were in 68 degrees latitude and 56degrees 32 minutes longitude. The temperature was higher and thethermometer marked twenty-five degrees above zero. The doctor wasamusing himself with watching the antics of a white bear and two cubson the brink of a pack that lengthened out the land. Accompanied byWall and Simpson, he tried to give chase to them by means of the canoe;but the animal, of a rather warlike disposition, rapidly led awayits offspring, and consequently the doctor was compelled to renouncefollowing them up. 

Chilly Cape was doubled during the night under the influence of afavourable wind, and soon the high mountains of Disko rose in thehorizon. Godhavn Bay, the residence of the Governor-General of theDanish Settlements, was left to the right. Shandon did not considerit worth while to stop, and soon outran the Esquimaux pirogues whowere endeavouring to reach his ship. 

The Island of Disko is also called Whale Island. It was from thispoint that on the 12th of July, 1845, Sir John Franklin wrote to theAdmiralty for the last time. It was also on that island on the 27thof August, 1859, that Captain McClintock set foot on his return, bringing back, alas! proofs too complete of the loss of the expedition. The coincidence of these two facts were noted by the doctor; thatmelancholy conjunction was prolific in memories, but soon the heightsof Disko disappeared from his view. 

There were, at that time, numerous icebergs on the coasts, some ofthose which the strongest thaws are unable to detach; the continualseries of ridges showed themselves under the strangest forms. 

The next day, towards three o'clock, they were bearing on to SandersonHope to the north-east. Land was left on the starboard at a distanceof about fifteen miles; the mountains seemed tinged with ared-coloured bistre. During the evening, several whales of thefinners species, which have fins on their backs, came playing aboutin the midst of the ice-trails, throwing out air and water from theirblow-holes. It was during the night between the 3rd and 4th of Maythat the doctor saw for the first time the sun graze the horizonwithout dipping his luminous disc into it. Since the 31st of Januarythe days had been getting longer and longer till the sun went downno more. To strangers not accustomed to the persistence of thisperpetual light it was a constant subject of astonishment, and evenof fatigue; it is almost impossible to understand to what extentobscurity is requisite for the well-being of our eyes. The doctorexperienced real pain in getting accustomed to this light, renderedstill more acute by the reflection of the sun's rays upon the plainsof ice. 

On May 5th the _Forward_ headed the seventy-second parallel; twomonths later they would have met with numerous whalers under thesehigh latitudes, but at present the straits were not sufficiently opento allow them to penetrate into Baffin's Bay. The following day thebrig, after having headed Woman's Island, came in sight of Uppernawik, the most northerly settlement that Denmark possesses on these coasts. 

CHAPTER X

DANGEROUS NAVIGATION

Shandon, Dr. Clawbonny, Johnson, Foker, and Strong, the cook, wenton shore in the small boat. The governor, his wife, and five children, all of the Esquimaux race, came politely to meet the visitors. Thedoctor knew enough Danish to enable him to establish a very agreeableacquaintance with them; besides, Foker, who was interpreter of theexpedition, as well as ice-master, knew about twenty words of theGreenland language, and if not ambitious, twenty words will carryyou far. The governor was born on the island, and had never left hisnative country. He did the honours of the town, which is composedof three wooden huts, for himself and the Lutheran minister, of aschool, and magazines stored with the produce of wrecks. The remainderconsists of snow-huts, the entrance to which is attained by creepingthrough a hole. 

The greater part of the population came down to greet the _Forward_, and more than one native advanced as far as the middle of the bayin his kayak, fifteen feet long and scarcely two wide. The doctorknew that the word Esquimaux signified raw-fish-eater, and helikewise knew that the name was considered an insult in the country, for which reason he did not fail to address them by the title ofGreenlanders, and nevertheless only by the look of their oily sealskinclothing, their boots of the same material, and all their greasytainted appearance, it was easy to discover their accustomed food. Like all Ichthyophagans, they were half-eaten up with leprosy; andyet, for all that, were in no worse health. 

The Lutheran minister and his wife, with whom the doctor promisedhimself a private chat, were on a journey towards Proven on the southof Uppernawik; he was therefore reduced to getting information outof the governor. This chief magistrate did not seem to be very learned;a little less and he would have been an ass, a little more and hewould have known how to read. The doctor, however, questioned himupon the commercial affairs, the customs and manners of the Esquimaux, and learnt by signs that seals were worth about 40 pounds deliveredin Copenhagen, a bearskin forty Danish dollars, a blue foxskin four, and a white one two or three dollars. The doctor also wished, withan eye to completing his personal education, to visit one of theEsquimaux huts; it is almost impossible to imagine of what a learnedman who is desirous of knowledge is capable. Happily the opening ofthose hovels was too narrow, and the enthusiastic fellow was not ableto crawl in; it was very lucky for him, for there is nothing morerepulsive than that accumulation of things living and dead, seal fleshor Esquimaux flesh, rotten fish and infectious wearing apparel, whichconstitute a Greenland hovel; no window to revive the unbreathableair, only a hole at the top of the hut, which gives free passage tothe smoke, but does not allow the stench to go out. 

Foker gave these details to the doctor, who did not curse hiscorpulence the less for that. He wished to judge for himself aboutthese emanations, _sui generis_. 

"I am sure, " said he, "one gets used to it in the long run. "

_In the long run_ depicts Dr. Clawbonny in a single phrase. Duringthe ethnographical studies of the worthy doctor, Shandon, accordingto his instructions, was occupied in procuring means of transportto cross the ice. He had to pay 4 pounds for a sledge and six dogs, and even then he had great difficulty in persuading the natives topart with them. Shandon wanted also to engage Hans Christian, theclever dog-driver, who made one of the party of Captain McClintock'sexpedition; but, unfortunately, Hans was at that time in SouthernGreenland. Then came the grand question, the topic of the day, wasthere in Uppernawik a European waiting for the passage of the_Forward_? Did the governor know if any foreigner, an Englishmanprobably, had settled in those countries? To what epoch could he tracehis last relations with whale or other ships? To these questions thegovernor replied that not one single foreigner had landed on thatside of the coast for more than ten months. 

Shandon asked for the names of the last whalers seen there; he knewnone of them. He was in despair. 

"You must acknowledge, doctor, that all this is quite inconceivable. Nothing at Cape Farewell, nothing at Disko Island, nothing atUppernawik. "

"If when we get there you repeat 'Nothing in Melville Bay, ' I shallgreet you as the only captain of the _Forward_. "

The small boat came back to the brig towards evening, bringing backthe visitors. Strong, in order to change the food a little, hadprocured several dozens of eider-duck eggs, twice as big as hens'eggs, and of greenish colour. It was not much, but the change wasrefreshing to a crew fed on salted meat. The wind became favourablethe next day, but, however, Shandon did not command them to get undersail; he still wished to stay another day, and for conscience' saketo give any human being time to join the _Forward_. He even causedthe 16-pounder to be fired from hour to hour; it thundered out witha great crash amidst the icebergs, but the noise only frightened theswarms of molly-mokes and rotches. During the night several rocketswere sent up, but in vain. And thus they were obliged to set sail. 

On the 8th of May, at six o'clock in the morning, the _Forward_ underher topsails, foresails, and topgallant, lost sight of the Uppernawiksettlement, and the hideous stakes to which were hung seal-guts anddeer-paunches. The wind was blowing from the south-east, and thetemperature went up to thirty-two degrees. The sun pierced throughthe fog, and the ice was getting a little loosened under its dissolvingaction. But the reflection of the white rays produced a sad effecton the eyesight of several of the crew. Wolsten, the gunsmith, Gripper, Clifton, and Bell were struck with snow blindness, a kind of weaknessin the eyes very frequent in spring, and which determines, amongstthe Esquimaux, numerous cases of blindness. The doctor advised thosewho were so afflicted and their companions in general to cover theirfaces with green gauze, and he was the first to put his ownprescription into execution. 

The dogs bought by Shandon at Uppernawik were of a rather savage nature, but in the end they became accustomed to the ship; the captain didnot take the arrival of these new comrades too much to heart, andhe seemed to know their habits. Clifton was not the last to remarkthe fact that the captain must already have been in communicationwith his Greenland brethren, as on land they were always famishedand reduced by incomplete nourishment; they only thought ofrecruiting themselves by the diet on board. 

On the 9th of May the _Forward_ touched within a few cables' lengththe most westerly of the Baffin Isles. The doctor noticed severalrocks in the bay between the islands and the continent, those calledCrimson Cliffs; they were covered over with snow as red as carmine, to which Dr. Kane gives a purely vegetable origin. Clawbonny wantedto consider this phenomenon nearer, but the ice prevented themapproaching the coast; although the temperature had a tendency torise, it was easy enough to see that the icebergs and ice-streamswere accumulating to the north of Baffin's Sea. The land offered avery different aspect from that of Uppernawik; immense glaciers wereoutlined on the horizon against a greyish sky. On the 10th the_Forward_ left Hingston Bay on the right, near to the seventy-fourthdegree of latitude. Several hundred miles westward the LancasterChannel opened out into the sea. 

But afterwards that immense extent of water disappeared underenormous fields of ice, upon which hummocks rose up as regularly asa crystallisation of the same substance. Shandon had the steam puton, and up to the 11th of May the _Forward_ wound amongst the sinuousrocks, leaving the print of a track on the sky, caused by the blacksmoke from her funnels. But new obstacles were soon encountered; thepaths were getting closed up in consequence of the incessantdisplacement of the floating masses; at every minute a failure ofwater in front of the _Forward's_ prow became imminent, and if shehad been nipped it would have been difficult to extricate her. Theyall knew it, and thought about it. 

On board this vessel, without aim or known destination, foolishlyseeking to advance towards the north, some symptoms of hesitationwere manifested amongst those men, accustomed to an existence ofdanger; many, forgetting the advantages offered, regretted havingventured so far, and already a certain demoralisation prevailed intheir minds, still more increased by Clifton's fears, and the idletalk of two or three of the leaders, such as Pen, Gripper, Warren, and Wolston. 

To the uneasiness of the crew were joined overwhelming fatigues, foron the 12th of May the brig was closed in on every side; her steamwas powerless, and it was necessary to force a road through theice-fields. The working of the saws was very difficult in the floes, which measured from six to seven feet in thickness. When two parallelgrooves divided the ice for the length of a hundred feet, they hadto break the interior part with hatchets or handspikes; then tookplace the elongation of the anchors, fixed in a hole by means of athick auger; afterwards the working of the capstan began, and in thisway the vessel was hauled over. The greatest difficulty consistedin driving the smashed pieces under the floes in order to open upa free passage for the ship, and to thrust them away they werecompelled to use long iron-spiked poles. 

At last, what with the working of the saws, the hauling, the capstanand poles, incessant, dangerous, and forced work, in the midst offogs or thick snow, the temperature relatively low, ophthalmicsuffering and moral uneasiness, all contributed to discourage thecrew, and react on the men's imagination. When sailors have anenergetic, audacious, and convinced man to do with, who knows whathe wants, where he is bound for, and what end he has in view, confidencesustains them in spite of everything. They make one with their chief, feeling strong in his strength, and quiet in his tranquillity; buton the brig it was felt that the commander was not sure of himself, that he hesitated before his unknown end and destination. In spiteof his energetic nature, his weakness showed itself in his changingorders, incomplete manoeuvres, stormy reflections, and a thousanddetails which could not escape the notice of the crew. 

Besides, Shandon was not captain of the ship, a sufficient reasonfor argument about his orders; from argument to a refusal to obeythe step is easy. The discontented soon added to their number thefirst engineer, who up to now had remained a slave to his duty. 

On May 16th, six days after the _Forward's_ arrival at the icebergs, Shandon had not gained two miles northward, and the ice threatenedto freeze in the brig till the following season. This was becomingdangerous. Towards eight in the evening Shandon and the doctor, accompanied by Garry, went on a voyage of discovery in the midst ofthe immense plains; they took care not to go too far away from thevessel, as it was difficult to fix any landmarks in those whitesolitudes, the aspects of which changed constantly. 

The refraction produced strange effects; they still astonished thedoctor; where he thought he had only one foot to leap he found itwas five or six, or the contrary; and in both cases the result wasa fall, if not dangerous, at least painful, on the frozen ice as hardas glass. 

Shandon and his two companions went in search of a practicable passage. Three miles from the ship they succeeded, not without trouble, inclimbing the iceberg, which was perhaps three hundred feet high. 

From this point their view extended over that desolated mass whichlooked like the ruins of a gigantic town with its beaten-down obelisks, its overthrown steeples and palaces turned upside down all in alump--in fact, a genuine chaos. The sun threw long oblique rays ofa light without warmth, as if heat-absorbing substances were placedbetween it and that gloomy country. The sea seemed to be frozen tothe remotest limits of view. 

"How shall we get through?" exclaimed the doctor. 

"I have not the least idea, " replied Shandon; "but we will get through, even if we are obliged to employ powder to blow up those mountains, for I certainly won't let that ice shut me up till next spring. "

"Nevertheless, such was the fate of the _Fox_, almost in these samequarters. Never mind, " continued the doctor, "we shall get throughwith a little philosophy. Believe me, that is worth all the enginesin the world. "

"You must acknowledge, " replied Shandon, "that the year doesn't beginunder very favourable auspices. "

"That is incontestable, and I notice that Baffin's Sea has a tendencyto return to the same state in which it was before 1817. "

"Then you think, doctor, that the present state of things has notalways existed?"

"Yes; from time to time there are vast breakings up which scientificmen can scarcely explain; thus, up to 1817 this sea was constantlyobstructed, when suddenly an immense cataclysm took place which droveback these icebergs into the ocean, the great part of which werestranded on Newfoundland Bank. From that time Baffin's Bay has beenalmost free, and has become the haunt of numerous whalers. "

"Then, since that epoch, voyages to the north have been easier?"

"Incomparably so; but for the last few years it has been observedthat the bay has a tendency to be closed up again, and according toinvestigations made by navigators, it may probably be so for a longtime--a still greater reason for us to go on as far as possible. Justnow we look like people who get into unknown galleries, the doorsof which are always shut behind them. "

"Do you advise me to back out?" asked Shandon, endeavouring to readthe answer in the doctor's eyes. 

"I! I have never known how to take a step backward, and should wenever return, I say 'Go ahead. ' However, I should like to make knownto you that if we do anything imprudent, we know very well what weare exposed to. "

"Well, Garry, what do you think about it?" asked Shandon of the sailor. 

"I? Commander, I should go on; I'm of the same opinion as Mr. Clawbonny; but you do as you please; command, and we will obey. "

"They don't all speak like you, Garry, " replied Shandon. "They aren'tall in an obedient humour! Suppose they were to refuse to executemy orders?"

"Commander, " replied Garry coldly, "I have given you my advice becauseyou asked me for it; but you are not obliged to act upon it. "

Shandon did not reply; he attentively examined the horizon, anddescended with his two companions on to the ice-field. 

CHAPTER XI

THE DEVIL'S THUMB

During the commander's absence the men had gone through divers worksin order to make the ship fit to avoid the pressure of the ice-fields. Pen, Clifton, Gripper, Bolton, and Simpson were occupied in thislaborious work; the stoker and the two engineers were even obligedto come to the aid of their comrades, for, from the instant they werenot wanted at the engine, they again became sailors, and, as such, they could be employed in all kinds of work on board. But this wasnot accomplished without a great deal of grumbling. 

"I'll tell you what, " said Pen, "I've had enough of it, and if inthree days the breaking up isn't come, I'll swear to God that I'llchuck up!"

"You'll chuck up?" replied Gripper; "you'd do better to help us toback out. Do you think we are in the humour to winter here till nextyear?"

"To tell you the truth, it would be a dreary winter, " said Plover, "for the ship is exposed from every quarter. "

"And who knows, " added Brunton, "if even next spring we should findthe sea freer than it is now?"

"We aren't talking about next spring, " said Pen; "to-day's Thursday;if next Sunday morning the road ain't clear, we'll back out south. "

"That's the ticket!" cried Clifton. 

"Are you all agreed?" said Pen. 

"Yes, " answered all his comrades. 

"That's right enough, " answered Warren, "for if we are obliged towork like this, hauling the ship by the strength of our arms, my adviceis to backwater. "

"We'll see about that on Sunday, " answered Wolsten. 

"As soon as I get the order, " said Brunton, "I'll soon get my steamup. "

"Or we'd manage to get it up ourselves, " said Clifton. 

"If any of the officers, " said Pen, "wants to have the pleasure ofwintering here, we'll let him. He can build himself a snow-hut likethe Esquimaux. "

"Nothing of the kind, Pen, " replied Brunton; "we won't leave anybody. You understand that, you others. Besides, I don't think it would bedifficult to persuade the commander; he already seems very uncertain, and if we were quietly to propose it----"

"I don't know that, " said Plover; "Richard Shandon is a hard, headstrong man, and we should have to sound him carefully. "

"When I think, " replied Bolton, with a covetous sigh, "that in a monthwe might be back in Liverpool; we could soon clear the southernice-line. The pass in Davis's Straits will be open in the beginningof June, and we shall only have to let ourselves drift into theAtlantic. "

"Besides, " said the prudent Clifton, "if we bring back the commanderwith us, acting under his responsibility, our pay and bounty moneywill be sure; whilst if we return alone it won't be so certain. "

"That's certain!" said Plover; "that devil of a Clifton speaks likea book. Let us try to have nothing to explain to the Admiralty; it'smuch safer to leave no one behind us. "

"But if the officers refuse to follow us?" replied Pen, who wishedto push his comrades to an extremity. 

To such a question they were puzzled to reply. 

"We shall see about it when the time comes, " replied Bolton; "besides, it would be enough to win Richard Shandon over to our side. We shallhave no difficulty about that. "

"Anyhow, " said Pen, swearing, "there's something I'll leave here ifI get an arm eaten in the attempt. "

"Ah! you mean the dog, " said Plover. 

"Yes, the dog; and before long I'll settle his hash!"

"The more so, " replied Clifton, coming back to his favourite theme, "that the dog is the cause of all our misfortunes. "

"He's cast an evil spell over us, " said Plover. 

"It's through him we're in an iceberg, " said Gripper. 

"He's the cause that we've had more ice against us than has ever beenseen at this time of year, " said Wolsten. 

"He's the cause of my bad eyes, " said Brunton. 

"He's cut off the gin and brandy, " added Pen. 

"He's the cause of everything, " said the assembly, getting excited. 

"And he's captain into the bargain!" cried Clifton. 

"Well, captain of ill-luck, " said Pen, whose unreasonable fury grewstronger at every word; "you wanted to come here, and here you'llstay. "

"But how are we to nap him?" said Plover. 

"We've a good opportunity, " replied Clifton; "the commander isn'ton deck, the lieutenant is asleep in his cabin, and the fog's thickenough to stop Johnson seeing us. "

"But where's the dog?" cried Pen. 

"He's asleep near the coalhole, " replied Clifton, "and if anybodywants----"

"I'll take charge of him, " answered Pen furiously. 

"Look out, Pen, he's got teeth that could snap an iron bar in two. "

"If he moves I'll cut him open, " cried Pen, taking his knife in onehand. He bounced in between decks, followed by Warren, who wantedto help him in his undertaking. They quickly came back, carrying theanimal in their arms, strongly muzzled, with his paws bound tightlytogether. They had taken him by surprise whilst he slept, so thatthe unfortunate dog could not escape them. 

"Hurrah for Pen!" cried Plover. 

"What do you mean to do with him now you've got him?" asked Clifton. 

"Why, drown him, and if ever he gets over it----" replied Pen, witha fearful smile of satisfaction. 

About two hundred steps from the vessel there was a seal-hole, a kindof circular crevice cut out by the teeth of that amphibious animal, hollowed out from underneath, and through which the seal comes upto breathe on to the surface of the ice. To keep this aperture fromclosing up he has to be very careful because the formation of hisjaws would not enable him to bore through the hole again from theoutside, and in a moment of danger he would fall a prey to his enemies. Pen and Warren directed their steps towards this crevice, and there, in spite of the dog's energetic efforts, he was unmercifullyprecipitated into the sea. An enormous lump of ice was then placedover the opening, thus closing all possible issue to the poor animal, walled up in a watery prison. 

"Good luck to you, captain, " cried the brutal sailor. 

Shortly afterwards Pen and Warren returned on deck. Johnson had seennothing of this performance. The fog thickened round about the ship, and snow began to fall with violence. An hour later, Richard Shandon, the doctor, and Garry rejoined the _Forward_. Shandon had noticeda pass in a north-eastern direction of which he was resolved to takeadvantage, and gave his orders in consequence. The crew obeyed witha certain activity, not without hinting to Shandon that it wasimpossible to go further on, and that they only gave him three moredays' obedience. During a part of the night and the following daythe working of the saws and the hauling were actively kept up; the_Forward_ gained about two miles further north. On the 18th she wasin sight of land, and at five or six cable-lengths from a peculiarpeak, called from its strange shape the Devil's Thumb. 

It was there that the _Prince Albert_ in 1851, and the _Advance_ withKane, in 1853, were kept prisoners by the ice for several weeks. Theodd form of the Devil's Thumb, the dreary deserts in its vicinity, the vast circus of icebergs--some of them more than three hundredfeet high--the cracking of the ice, reproduced by the echo in sosinister a manner, rendered the position of the _Forward_ horriblydreary. Shandon understood the necessity of getting out of it andgoing further ahead. Twenty-four hours later, according to hisestimation, he had been able to clear the fatal coast for about twomiles, but this was not enough. Shandon, overwhelmed with fear, andthe false situation in which he was placed, lost both courage andenergy; in order to obey his instructions and get further north, hehad thrown his vessel into an excessively perilous situation. Themen were worn out by the hauling; it required more than three hoursto hollow out a channel twenty feet long, through ice that was usuallyfrom four to five feet thick. The health of the crew threatened tobreak down. Shandon was astonished at the silence of his men and theirunaccustomed obedience, but he feared that it was the calm beforethe storm. Who can judge, then, of his painful disappointment, surprise, and despair when he perceived that in consequence of aninsensible movement of the ice-field the _Forward_ had, during thenight from the 18th to the 19th, lost all the advantage she had gainedwith so much toil? On the Saturday morning they were once more oppositethe ever-threatening Devil's Thumb, and in a still more criticalposition. The icebergs became more numerous, and drifted by in thefog like phantoms. Shandon was in a state of complete demoralisation, for fright had taken possession of the dauntless man and his crew. Shandon had heard the dog's disappearance spoken about, but darednot punish those who were guilty of it. He feared that a rebellionmight be the consequence. The weather was fearful during the wholeday; the snow rose up in thick whirlpools, wrapping up the _Forward_in an impenetrable cloak. Sometimes, under the action of the storm, the fog was torn asunder, and displayed towards land, raised up likea spectre, the Devil's Thumb. 

The _Forward_ was anchored to an immense block of ice; it was allthat could be done; there was nothing more to attempt; the obscuritybecame denser, and the man at the helm could not see James Wall, whowas on duty in the bow. Shandon withdrew to his cabin, a prey tounremitting uneasiness; the doctor was putting his voyage notes inorder; one half the crew remained on deck, the other half stayed inthe common cabin. At one moment, when the storm increased in fury, the Devil's Thumb seemed to rise up out of all proportion in the midstof the fog. 

"Good God!" cried Simpson, drawing back with fright. 

"What the devil's that?" said Foker, and exclamations rose up in everydirection. 

"It is going to smash us!"

"We are lost!"

"Mr. Wall! Mr. Wall!"

"It's all over with us!"

"Commander! Commander!"

These cries were simultaneously uttered by the men on watch. Wallfled to the quarter-deck, and Shandon, followed by the doctor, rushedon deck to look. In the midst of the fog the Devil's Thumb seemedto have suddenly neared the brig, and seemed to have grown in a mostfantastic manner. At its summit rose up a second cone, turned upsidedown and spindled on its point; its enormous mass threatened to crushthe ship, as it was oscillating and ready to fall. It was a most fearfulsight; every one instinctively drew back, and several sailors, leaping on to the ice, abandoned the ship. 

"Let no one move!" cried the commander in a severe voice. "Every oneto his post!"

"How now, my friends? There's nothing to be frightened at!" said thedoctor. "There's no danger! Look, commander, look ahead, Mr. Wall;it's only an effect of the mirage, nothing else. "

"You are quite right, Mr. Clawbonny, " answered Johnson; "those foolswere frightened at a shadow. "

After the doctor had spoken most of the sailors drew near, and theirfear changed to admiration at the wonderful phenomenon, which shortlydisappeared from sight. 

"They call that a mirage?" said Clifton. "Well, you may believe methat the devil has something to do with it. "

"That's certain!" replied Gripper. 

But when the fog cleared away it disclosed to the eyes of the commanderan immense free and unexpected passage; it seemed to run away fromthe coast, and he therefore determined to seize such a favourablehazard. Men were placed on each side of the creek, hawsers were lowereddown to them, and they began to tow the vessel in a northerly direction. During long hours this work was actively executed in silence. Shandoncaused the steam to be got up, in order to take advantage of thefortunate discovery of this channel. 

"This, " said he to Johnson, "is a most providential hazard, and ifwe can only get a few miles ahead, we shall probably get to the endof our misfortunes. "

"Brunton! stir up the fires, and as soon as there's enough pressurelet me know. In the meantime our men will pluck up their courage--thatwill be so much gained. They are in a hurry to run away from the Devil'sThumb; we'll take advantage of their good inclinations!"

All at once the progress of the _Forward_ was abruptly arrested. 

"What's up?" cried Shandon. "I say, Wall! have we broken ourtow-ropes?"

"Not at all, commander, " answered Wall, looking over the side. "Hallo!Here are the men coming back again. They are climbing the ship's sideas if the devil was at their heels. "

"What the deuce can it be?" cried Shandon, rushing forward. 

"On board! On board!" cried the terrified sailors. 

Shandon looked in a northerly direction, and shuddered in spite ofhimself. A strange animal, with appalling movements, whose foamingtongue emerged from enormous jaws, was leaping about at a cable'slength from the ship. In appearance he seemed to be about twenty feethigh, with hair like bristles; he was following up the sailors, whilsthis formidable tail, ten feet long, was sweeping the snow and throwingit up in thick whirlwinds. The sight of such a monster riveted themost daring to the spot. 

"It's a bear!" said one. 

"It's the Gevaudan beast!"

"It's the lion of the Apocalypse!"

Shandon ran to his cabin for a gun he always kept loaded. The doctorarmed himself, and held himself in readiness to fire upon an animalwhich, by its dimensions, recalled the antediluvian quadrupeds. Heneared the ship in immense leaps; Shandon and the doctor fired atthe same time, when, suddenly, the report of their firearms, shakingthe atmospheric stratum, produced an unexpected effect. The doctorlooked attentively, and burst out laughing. 

"It's the refraction!" he exclaimed. 

"Only the refraction!" repeated Shandon. But a fearful exclamationfrom the crew interrupted them. 

"The dog!" said Clifton. 

"The dog, captain!" repeated all his comrades. 

"Himself!" cried Pen; "always that cursed brute. "

They were not mistaken--it was the dog. Having got loose from hisshackles, he had regained the surface by another crevice. At thatinstant the refraction, through a phenomenon common to theselatitudes, caused him to appear under formidable dimensions, whichthe shaking of the air had dispersed; but the vexatious effect wasnone the less produced upon the minds of the sailors, who were verylittle disposed to admit an explanation of the fact by purely physicalreasons. The adventure of the Devil's Thumb, the reappearance of thedog under such fantastic circumstances, gave the finishing touch totheir mental faculties, and murmurs broke out on all sides. 

CHAPTER XII

CAPTAIN HATTERAS

The _Forward_, under steam, rapidly made its way between theice-mountains and the icebergs. Johnson was at the wheel. Shandon, with his snow spectacles, was examining the horizon, but his joy wasof short duration, for he soon discovered that the passage ended ina circus of mountains. However, he preferred going on, in spite ofthe difficulty, to going back. The dog followed the brig at a longdistance, running along the plain, but if he lagged too far behinda singular whistle could be distinguished, which he immediatelyobeyed. The first time this whistle was heard the sailors looked roundabout them; they were alone on deck all together, and no strangerwas to be seen; and yet the whistle was again heard from time to time. Clifton was the first alarmed. 

"Do you hear?" said he. "Just look how that animal answers when hehears the whistle. "

"I can scarcely believe my eyes, " answered Gripper. 

"It's all over!" cried Pen. "I don't go any further. "

"Pen's right!" replied Brunton; "it's tempting God!"

"Tempting the devil!" replied Clifton. "I'd sooner lose my bountymoney than go a step further. "

"We shall never get back!" said Bolton in despair. 

The crew had arrived at the highest pitch of insubordination. 

"Not a step further!" cried Wolsten. "Are you all of the same mind?"

"Ay! ay!" answered all the sailors. 

"Come on, then, " said Bolton; "let's go and find the commander; I'llundertake the talking. "

The sailors in a tight group swayed away towards the poop. The_Forward_ at the time was penetrating into a vast circus, whichmeasured perhaps 800 feet in diameter, and with the exception of oneentrance--that by which the vessel had come--was entirely closed up. 

Shandon said that he had just imprisoned himself; but what was heto do? How were they to retrace their steps? He felt his responsibility, and his hand grasped the telescope. The doctor, with folded arms, kept silent; he was contemplating the walls of ice, the mediumaltitude of which was over 300 feet. A foggy dome remained suspendedabove the gulf. It was at this instant that Bolton addressed his speechto the commander. 

"Commander!" said he in a trembling voice, "we can't go any further. "

"What do you say?" replied Shandon, whose consciousness ofdisregarded authority made the blood rise to the roots of his hair. 

"Commander, " replied Bolton, "we say that we've done enough for thatinvisible captain, and we are decided to go no further ahead. "

"You are decided?" cried Shandon. "You talk thus, Bolton? Take care!"

"Your threats are all the same to us, " brutally replied Pen; "we won'tgo an inch further. "

Shandon advanced towards the mutineers; at the same time the matecame up and said in a whisper: "Commander, if you wish to get outof here we haven't a minute to lose; there's an iceberg drifting upthe pass, and it is very likely to cork up all issue and keep usprisoners. "

Shandon examined the situation. 

"You will give an account of your conduct later on, you fellows, "said he. "Now heave aboard!"

The sailors rushed to their posts, and the _Forward_ quickly veeredround; the fires were stuffed with coals; the great question was tooutrun the floating mountain. It was a struggle between the brig andthe iceberg. The former, in order to get through, was running south;the latter was drifting north, ready to close up every passage. 

"Steam up! steam up!" cried Shandon. "Do you hear, Brunton?"

The _Forward_ glided like a bird amidst the struggling icebergs, whichher prow sent to the right-about; the brig's hull shivered under theaction of the screw, and the manometer indicated a prodigious tensionof steam, for it whistled with a deafening noise. 

"Load the valves!" cried Shandon, and the engineer obeyed at the riskof blowing up the ship; but his despairing efforts were in vain. Theiceberg, caught up by an undercurrent, rapidly approached the pass. The brig was still about three cables' length from it, when themountain, entering like a corner-stone into the open space, stronglyadhered to its neighbours and closed up all issue. 

"We are lost!" cried Shandon, who could not retain the imprudentwords. 

"Lost!" repeated the crew. 

"Let them escape who can!" said some. 

"Lower the shore boats!" said others. 

"To the steward's room!" cried Pen and several of his band, "and ifwe are to be drowned, let's drown ourselves in gin!"

Disorder among the men was at its height. Shandon felt himselfovercome; when he wished to command, he stammered and hesitated. Histhought was unable to make way through his words. The doctor waswalking about in agitation. Johnson stoically folded his arms andsaid nothing. All at once a strong, imperious, and energetic voicewas heard to pronounce these words:

"Every man to his post and tack about!"

Johnson started, and, hardly knowing what he did, turned the wheelrapidly. He was just in time, for the brig, launched at full speed, was about to crush herself against her prison walls. But while Johnsonwas instinctively obeying, Shandon, Clawbonny, the crew, and all downto the stoker Warren, who had abandoned his fires, even black Strong, who had left his cooking, were all mustered on deck, and saw emergefrom that cabin the only man who was in possession of the key, andthat man was Garry, the sailor. 

"Sir!" cried Shandon, becoming pale. "Garry--you--by what right doyou command here?"

"Dick, " called out Garry, reproducing that whistle which had so muchsurprised the crew. The dog, at the sound of his right name, jumpedwith one bound on to the poop and lay quietly down at his master'sfeet. The crew did not say a word. The key which the captain of the_Forward_ alone possessed, the dog sent by him, and who came thusto verify his identity, that commanding accent which it was impossibleto mistake--all this acted strongly on the minds of the sailors, andwas sufficient to establish Garry's authority. 

Besides, Garry was no longer recognisable; he had cut off the longwhiskers which had covered his face, which made it look more energeticand imperious than ever; dressed in the clothes of his rank whichhad been deposited in the cabin, he appeared in the insignia ofcommander. 

Then immediately, with that mobility which characterised them, thecrew of the _Forward_ cried out--"Three cheers for the captain!"

"Shandon!" said the latter to his second, "muster the crew; I am goingto inspect it!"

Shandon obeyed and gave orders with an altered voice. The captainadvanced to meet his officers and men, saying something suitable toeach, and treating each according to his past conduct. When he hadfinished the inspection, he returned on to the poop, and with a calmvoice pronounced the following words:

"Officers and sailors, like you, I am English, and my motto is thatof Nelson, 'England expects that every man will do his duty. ' As anEnglishman I am resolved, we are resolved, that no bolder men shallgo further than we have been. As an Englishman I will not allow, wewill not allow, other people to have the glory of pushing furthernorth themselves. If ever human foot can step upon the land of theNorth Pole, it shall be the foot of an Englishman. Here is ourcountry's flag. I have equipped this vessel, and consecrated myfortune to this enterprise, and, if necessary, I shall consecrateto it my life and yours; for I am determined that these colours shallfloat on the North Pole. Take courage. From this day, for every degreewe can gain northwards the sum of a thousand pounds will be awardedto you. There are ninety, for we are now in the seventy-second. Countthem. Besides, my name is enough. It means energy and patriotism. I am Captain Hatteras!"

"Captain Hatteras!" exclaimed Shandon, and that name, well known toEnglish sailors, was whispered amongst the crew. 

"Now, " continued Hatteras, "anchor the brig to the ice, put out thefires, and each of you return to your usual work. Shandon, I wishto hold a council with you relative to affairs on board. Join me withthe doctor, Wall, and the boatswain in my cabin. Johnson, dispersethe men. "

Hatteras, calm and haughty, quietly left the poop. In the meantimeShandon was anchoring the brig. 

Who, then, was this Hatteras, and for what reason did his name makesuch a profound impression upon the crew? John Hatteras was the onlyson of a London brewer, who died in 1852 worth six millions of money. Still young, he embraced the maritime career in spite of the splendidfortune awaiting him. Not that he felt any vocation for commerce, but the instinct of geographical discoveries was dear to him. He hadalways dreamt of placing his foot where no mortal foot had yet soiledthe ground. 

At the age of twenty he was already in possession of the vigorousconstitution of a thin and sanguine man; an energetic face, with linesgeometrically traced; a high and perpendicular forehead; cold buthandsome eyes; thin lips, which set off a mouth from which words rarelyissued; a middle stature; solidly-jointed limbs, put in motion byiron muscles; the whole forming a man endowed with a temperament fitfor anything. When you saw him you felt he was daring; when you heardhim you knew he was coldly determined; his was a character that neverdrew back, ready to stake the lives of others as well as his own. It was well to think twice before following him in his expeditions. 

John Hatteras was proud of being an Englishman. A Frenchman once saidto him, with what he thought was refined politeness and amiability:

"If I were not a Frenchman I should like to be an Englishman. "

"And if I were not an Englishman, " answered Hatteras, "I should liketo be an Englishman. "

That answer revealed the character of the man. It was a great griefto him that Englishmen had not the monopoly of geographicaldiscoveries, and were, in fact, rather behind other nations in thatfield. 

Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of America, was a Genoese; Vascoda Gama, a Portuguese, discovered India; another Portuguese, Fernando de Andrada, China; and a third, Magellan, the Terra del Fuego. Canada was discovered by Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman; Labrador, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, the Azores, Madeira, Newfoundland, Guinea, Congo, Mexico, Cape Blanco, Greenland, Iceland, the SouthSeas, California, Japan, Cambodia, Peru, Kamtchatka, the Philippines, Spitzbergen, Cape Horn, Behring's Straits, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Brittany, New Holland, Louisiana, Jean Mayen Island, werediscovered by Icelanders, Scandinavians, French, Russians, Portuguese, Danes, Spaniards, Genoese, and Dutch, but not one by anEnglishman. Captain Hatteras could not reconcile himself to the factthat Englishmen were excluded from the glorious list of navigatorswho made the great discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries. 

Hatteras consoled himself a little when he turned to more modern times. Then Englishmen had the best of it with Sturt, Burke, Wills, King, and Grey in Australia; with Palliser in America; with Cyril Graham, Wadington, and Cummingham in India; with Burton, Speke, Grant, andLivingstone in Africa. 

But for a man like Hatteras this was not enough; from his point ofview these bold travellers were _improvers_ rather than _inventors_;and he was determined to do something better, and he would haveinvented a country if he could, only to have the honour of discoveringit. Now he had noticed that, although Englishmen did not form amajority amongst ancient discoverers, and that he had to go back toCook in 1774 to obtain New Caledonia and the Sandwich Isles, wherethe unfortunate captain perished in 1778, yet there existed, nevertheless, a corner of the globe where they seemed to have unitedall their efforts. This corner was precisely the boreal lands andseas of North America. The list of Polar discoveries may be thuswritten:

Nova Zembla, discovered by Willoughby, in 1553; Weigatz Island, byBarrough, in 1556; the West Coast of Greenland, by Davis, in 1585;Davis's Straits, by Davis, in 1587; Spitzbergen, by Willoughby, in1596; Hudson's Bay, by Hudson, in 1610; Baffin's Bay, by Baffin, in1616. 

In more modern times, Hearne, Mackenzie, John Ross, Parry, Franklin, Richardson, Beechey, James Ross, Back, Dease, Simpson, Rae, Inglefield, Belcher, Austin, Kellett, Moore, McClure, Kennedy, andMcClintock have continually searched those unknown lands. 

The limits of the northern coasts of America had been fixed, and theNorth-West passage almost discovered, but this was not enough; therewas something better still to be done, and John Hatteras had twiceattempted it by equipping two ships at his own expense. He wantedto reach the North Pole, and thus crown the series of Englishdiscoveries by one of the most illustrious attempts. To attain thePole was the aim of his life. 

After a few successful cruises in the Southern seas, Hatterasendeavoured for the first time, in 1846, to go north by Baffin's Sea;but he could not get beyond the seventy-fourth degree of latitude;he was then commanding the sloop _Halifax_. His crew sufferedatrocious torments, and John Hatteras pushed his adventurousrashness so far, that, afterwards, sailors were little tempted tore-commence similar expeditions under such a chief. 

However, in 1850 Hatteras succeeded in enrolling on the schooner_Farewell_ about twenty determined men, tempted principally by thehigh prize offered for their audacity. It was upon that occasion thatDr. Clawbonny entered into correspondence with John Hatteras, whomhe did not know, requesting to join the expedition, but happily forthe doctor the post was already filled up. The _Farewell_, followingthe track taken in 1817 by the _Neptune_ from Aberdeen, got up tothe north of Spitzbergen as far as the seventy-sixth degree oflatitude. There the expedition was compelled to winter. But thesufferings of the crew from the intense cold were so great that nota single man saw England again, with the exception of Hatteras himself, who was brought back to his own country by a Danish whaler after awalk of more than two hundred miles across the ice. 

The sensation produced by the return of this one man was immense. Who in future would dare to follow Hatteras in his mad attempts?However, he did not despair of beginning again. His father, the brewer, died, and he became possessor of a nabob's fortune. Soon after ageographical fact bitterly stirred up John Hatteras. A brig, the_Advance_, manned by seventeen men, equipped by a merchant namedGrinnell, under the command of Dr. Kane, and sent in search of SirJohn Franklin, advanced in 1853 through Baffin's Sea and Smith'sStrait, beyond the eighty-second degree of boreal latitude, muchnearer the Pole than any of his predecessors. Now, this vessel wasAmerican, Grinnell was American, and Kane was American. TheEnglishman's disdain for the Yankee will be easily understood; inthe heart of Hatteras it changed to hatred; he was resolved to outdohis audacious competitor and reach the Pole itself. 

For two years he had been living incognito in Liverpool, passinghimself off as a sailor; he recognised in Richard Shandon the manhe wanted; he sent him an offer by an anonymous letter, and one toDr. Clawbonny at the same time. The _Forward_ was built, armed, andequipped. Hatteras took great care to conceal his name, for had itbeen known he would not have found a single man to accompany him. He was determined not to take the command of the brig except in amoment of danger, and when his crew had gone too far to draw back. He had in reserve, as we have seen, such offers of money to make tothe men that not one of them would refuse to follow him to the otherend of the world; and, in fact, it was right to the other end of theworld that he meant to go. Circumstances had become critical, andJohn Hatteras had made himself known. His dog, the faithful Dick, the companion of his voyages, was the first to recognise him. Luckilyfor the brave and unfortunately for the timid, it was well and dulyestablished that John Hatteras was the captain of the _Forward_. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE PROJECTS OF HATTERAS

The appearance of this bold personage was appreciated in differentways by the crew; part of them completely rallied round him, eitherfrom love of money or daring; others submitted because they couldnot help themselves, reserving their right to protest later on;besides, resistance to such a man seemed, for the present, difficult. Each man went back to his post. The 20th of May fell on a Sunday, and was consequently a day of rest for the crew. A council was heldby the captain, composed of the officers, Shandon, Wall, Johnson, and the doctor. 

"Gentlemen, " said the captain in that voice at the same time softand imperious which characterised him, "you are aware that I intendto go as far as the Pole. I wish to know your opinion about thisenterprise. Shandon, what do you think about it?"

"It is not for me to think, captain, " coldly replied Shandon; "I haveonly to obey. "

Hatteras was not surprised at the answer. 

"Richard Shandon, " continued he, not less coldly, "I beg you willsay what you think about our chance of success. "

"Very well, captain, " answered Shandon, "facts are there, and answerfor me; attempts of the same kind up till now have always failed;I hope we shall be more fortunate. "

"We shall be. What do you think, gentlemen?"

"As far as I am concerned, " replied the doctor, "I consider your planpracticable, as it is certain that some day navigators will attainthe boreal Pole. I don't see why the honour should not fall to ourlot. "

"There are many things in our favour, " answered Hatteras; "ourmeasures are taken in consequence, and we shall profit by theexperience of those who have gone before us. And thereupon, Shandon, accept my thanks for the care you have taken in fitting out this ship;there are a few evil-disposed fellows amongst the crew that I shallhave to bring to reason, but on the whole I have only praises to giveyou. "

Shandon bowed coldly. His position on the _Forward_, which he thoughtto command, was a false one. Hatteras understood this, and did notinsist further. 

"As to you, gentlemen, " he continued, turning to Wall and Johnson, "I could not have secured officers more distinguished for courageand experience. "

"Well, captain, I'm your man, " answered Johnson, "and although yourenterprise seems to me rather daring, you may rely upon me till theend. "

"And on me too, " said James Wall. 

"As to you, doctor, I know what you are worth. "

"You know more than I do, then, " quickly replied the doctor. 

"Now, gentlemen, " continued Hatteras, "it is well you should learnupon what undeniable facts my pretension to arrive at the Pole isfounded. In 1817 the _Neptune_ got up to the north of Spitzbergen, as far as the eighty-second degree. In 1826 the celebrated Parry, after his third voyage to the Polar Seas, started also fromSpitzbergen Point, and by the aid of sledge-boats went a hundred andfifty miles northward. In 1852 Captain Inglefield penetrated intoSmith's Inlet as far as seventy-eight degrees thirty-five minuteslatitude. All these vessels were English, and Englishmen, ourcountrymen, commanded them. " Here Hatteras paused. "I ought to add, "he continued, with a constrained look, and as though the words wereunable to leave his lips--"I must add that, in 1854, Kane, the American, commanding the brig _Advance_, went still higher, and that hislieutenant, Morton, going across the ice-fields, hoisted the UnitedStates standard on the other side of the eighty-second degree. Thissaid, I shall not return to the subject. Now what remains to be knownis this, that the captains of the _Neptune_, the _Enterprise_, the_Isabel_, and the _Advance_ ascertained that proceeding from thehighest latitudes there existed a Polar basin entirely free from ice. "

"Free from ice!" exclaimed Shandon, interrupting the captain, "thatis impossible!"

"You will notice, Shandon, " quietly replied Hatteras, whose eye shonefor an instant, "that I quote names and facts as a proof. I may evenadd that during Captain Parry's station on the border of WellingtonChannel, in 1851, his lieutenant, Stewart, also found himself in thepresence of open sea, and this peculiarity was confirmed during SirEdward Beecher's wintering in 1853, in Northumberland Bay, in 76degrees 52 minutes N. Latitude, and 99 degrees 20 minutes longitude. The reports are incontestable, and it would be most unjust not toadmit them. "

"However, captain, " continued Shandon, "those reports are socontradictory. "

"You are mistaken, Shandon, " cried Dr. Clawbonny. "These reports donot contradict any scientific assertion, the captain will allow meto tell you. "

"Go on, doctor, " answered Hatteras. 

"Well, listen, Shandon; it evidently follows from geographical facts, and from the study of isotherm lines, that the coldest point of theglobe is not at the Pole itself; like the magnetic point, it deviatesseveral degrees from the Pole. The calculations of Brewster, Bergham, and several other natural philosophers show us that in our hemispherethere are two cold Poles; one is situated in Asia at 79 degrees 30minutes N. Latitude, and by 120 degrees E. Longitude, and the otherin America at 78 degrees N. Latitude, and 97 degrees W. Longitude. It is with the latter that we have to do, and you see, Shandon, wehave met with it at more than twelve degrees below the Pole. Well, why should not the Polar Sea be as equally disengaged from ice asthe sixty-sixth parallel is in summer--that is to say, the south ofBaffin's Bay?"

"That's what I call well pleaded, " replied Johnson. "Mr. Clawbonnyspeaks upon these matters like a professional man. "

"It appears very probable, " chimed in James Wall. 

"All guess-work, " answered Shandon obstinately. 

"Well, Shandon, " said Hatteras, "let us take into considerationeither case; either the sea is free from ice or it is not so, andneither of these suppositions can hinder us from attaining the Pole. If the sea is free the _Forward_ will take us there without trouble;if it is frozen we will attempt the adventure upon our sledges. This, you will allow, is not impracticable. When once our brig has attainedthe eighty-third degree we shall only have six hundred miles totraverse before reaching the Pole. "

"And what are six hundred miles?" quickly answered the doctor, "whenit is known that a Cossack, Alexis Markoff, went over the ice seaalong the northern coast of the Russian Empire, in sledges drawn bydogs, for the space of eight hundred miles in twenty-four days?"

"Do you hear that, Shandon?" said Hatteras; "can't Englishmen do asmuch as a Cossack?"

"Of course they can, " cried the impetuous doctor. 

"Of course, " added the boatswain. 

"Well, Shandon?" said the captain. 

"I can only repeat what I said before, captain, " said Shandon--"Iwill obey. "

"Very good. And now, " continued Hatteras, "let us consider our presentsituation. We are caught by the ice, and it seems to me impossible, for this year at least, to get into Smith's Strait. Well, here, then, this is what I propose. "

Hatteras laid open upon the table one of the excellent maps publishedin 1859 by the order of the Admiralty. 

"Be kind enough to follow me. If Smith's Strait is closed up fromus, Lancaster Strait, on the west coast of Baffin's Sea, is not. Ithink we ought to ascend that strait as far as Barrow Strait, andfrom there sail to Beechey Island; the same track has been gone overa hundred times by sailing vessels; consequently with a screw we cando it easily. Once at Beechey Island we will go north as far as possible, by Wellington Channel, up to the outlet of the creek which joinsWellington's and Queen's Channels, at the very point where the opensea was perceived. It is now only the 20th of May; in a month, ifcircumstances favour us, we shall have attained that point, and fromthere we'll drive forward towards the Pole. What do you think aboutit, gentlemen?"

"It is evidently the only track to follow, " replied Johnson. 

"Very well, we will take it from to-morrow. I shall let them restto-day as it is Sunday. Shandon, you will take care that religiousservice be attended to; it has a beneficial effect on the minds ofmen, and a sailor above all needs to place confidence in the Almighty. "

"It shall be attended to, captain, " answered Shandon, who went outwith the lieutenant and the boatswain. 

"Doctor!" said Hatteras, pointing towards Shandon, "there's a manwhose pride is wounded; I can no longer rely upon him. "

Early the following day the captain caused the pirogue to be loweredin order to reconnoitre the icebergs in the vicinity, the breadthof which did not exceed 200 yards. He remarked that through a slowpressure of the ice the basin threatened to become narrower. It becameurgent, therefore, to make an aperture to prevent the ship beingcrushed in a vice of the mountains. By the means employed by JohnHatteras, it is easy to observe that he was an energetic man. 

He first had steps cut out in the walls of ice, and by their meansclimbed to the summit of an iceberg. From that point he saw that itwas easy for him to cut out a road towards the south-west. By hisorders a blasting furnace was hollowed nearly in the heart of themountain. This work, rapidly put into execution, was terminated bynoon on Monday. Hatteras could not rely on his eight or ten poundblasting cylinders, which would have had no effect on such massesas those. They were only sufficient to shatter ice-fields. Hetherefore had a thousand pounds of powder placed in the blastingfurnace, of which the diffusive direction was carefully calculated. This mine was provided with a long wick, bound in gutta-percha, theend of which was outside. The gallery conducting to the mine was filledup with snow and lumps of ice, which the cold of the following nightmade as hard as granite. The temperature, under the influence of aneasterly wind, came down to twelve degrees. 

At seven the next morning the _Forward_ was held under steam, readyto profit by the smallest issue. Johnson was charged with settingfire to the wick, which, according to calculation, would burn forhalf an hour before setting fire to the mine. Johnson had, therefore, plenty of time to regain the brig; ten minutes after having executedHatteras's order he was again at his post. The crew remained on deck, for the weather was dry and bright; it had left off snowing. 

Hatteras was on the poop, chronometer in hand, counting the minutes;Shandon and the doctor were with him. At eight thirty-five a dullexplosion was heard, much less loud than any one would have supposed. The outline of the mountains was changed all at once as if by anearthquake; thick white smoke rose up to a considerable height inthe sky, leaving long crevices in the iceberg, the top part of whichfell in pieces all round the _Forward_. But the path was not yet free;large blocks of ice remained suspended above the pass on the adjacentmountains, and there was every reason to fear that they would falland close up the passage. Hatteras took in the situation at one glance. 

"Wolsten!" cried he. 

The gunsmith hastened up. 

"Yes, captain?" cried he. 

"Load the gun in the bow with a triple charge, " said Hatteras, "andwad it as hard as possible. "

"Are we going to attack the mountain with cannon-balls?" asked thedoctor. 

"No, " answered Hatteras, "that would be useless. No bullet, Wolsten, but a triple charge of powder. Look sharp!"

A few minutes after the gun was loaded. 

"What does he mean to do without a bullet?" muttered Shandon betweenhis teeth. 

"We shall soon see, " answered the doctor. 

"Ready, captain!" called out Wolsten. 

"All right!" replied Hatteras. 

"Brunton!" he called out to the engineer, "a few turns ahead. "

Brunton opened the sliders, and the screw being put in movement, the_Forward_ neared the mined mountain. 

"Aim at the pass!" cried the captain to the gunsmith. The latter obeyed, and when the brig was only half a cable's length from it, Hatterascalled out:

"Fire!"

A formidable report followed his order, and the blocks, shaken bythe atmospheric commotion, were suddenly precipitated into the sea;the disturbance amongst the strata of the air had been sufficientto accomplish this. 

"All steam on, Brunton! Straight for the pass, Johnson!"

The latter was at the helm; the brig, driven along by her screw, whichturned in the foaming waves, dashed into the middle of the then openedpass; it was time, for scarcely had the _Forward_ cleared the openingthan her prison closed up again behind her. It was a thrilling moment, and on board there was only one stout and undisturbed heart--thatof the captain. The crew, astonished at the manoeuvre, cried out:

"Hurrah for the captain!"

CHAPTER XIV

EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN

On Wednesday, the 23rd of May, the _Forward_ had again taken up heradventurous navigation, cleverly tacking amongst the packs andicebergs. Thanks to steam, that obedient force which so many of ourPolar sea navigators have had to do without, she appeared to be playingin the midst of the moving rocks. She seemed to recognise the handof an experienced master, and like a horse under an able rider, sheobeyed the thought of her captain. The temperature rose. At sixo'clock in the morning the thermometer marked twenty-six degrees, at six in the evening twenty-nine degrees, and at midnight twenty-fivedegrees; the wind was lightly blowing from the south-east. 

On Thursday, towards three in the morning, the _Forward_ was in sightof Possession Bay, on the coast of America. At the entrance toLancaster Strait, shortly after, the crew caught a glimpse of BurneyCape. A few Esquimaux pulled off towards the vessel, but Hatterasdid not take the trouble to wait for them. The Byam-Martin peaks, which overlook Cape Liverpool, were sighted to the left, and soondisappeared in the evening mists, which also prevented anyobservation being taken from Cape Hay. This cape is so low that itgets confounded with the ice on the coast, a circumstance which oftenrenders the hydrographic determination of the Polar seas extremelydifficult. 

Puffins, ducks, and white sea-gulls showed up in very great numbers. The _Forward_ was then in latitude 74 degrees 1 minute, and inlongitude 77 degrees 15 minutes. The snowy hoods of the two mountains, Catherine and Elizabeth, rose up above the clouds. 

On Friday, at six o'clock, Cape Warender was passed on the right sideof the strait, and on the left Admiralty Inlet, a bay that has beenlittle explored by navigators, who are generally in a hurry to sailaway west. The sea became rather rough, and the waves often sweptthe deck of the brig, throwing up pieces of ice. The land on the northcoast, with its high table lands almost level, and which reverberatedthe sun's rays, offered a very curious appearance. 

Hatteras wanted to run along the north coast, in order to reach BeecheyIsland and the entrance to Wellington Channel sooner; but continualicebergs compelled him, to his great annoyance, to follow the southernpasses. That was why, on the 26th of May, the _Forward_ was abreastof Cape York in a thick fog interspersed with snow; a very highmountain, almost perpendicular, caused it to be recognised. Theweather cleared up a little, and the sun, towards noon, appeared foran instant, allowing a tolerably good observation to be taken; 74degrees 4 minutes latitude and 84 degrees 23 minutes longitude. The_Forward_ was then at the extremity of Lancaster Strait. 

Hatteras pointed out to the doctor on his map the route already taken, and the one he meant to follow. The position of the brig at the timewas very interesting. 

"I should like to have been further north, " said he, "but no one cando the impossible; see, this is our exact situation. "

And the captain pricked his map at a short distance from Cape York. 

"We are in the centre of this four-road way, open to every wind, fencedby the outlets of Lancaster Strait, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel, and Regent's Passage; it is a point that all navigators in these seashave been obliged to come to. "

"Well, " replied the doctor, "it must have puzzled them greatly; fourcross-roads with no sign-posts to tell them which to take. How didParry, Ross, and Franklin manage?"

"They did not manage at all, they were managed; they had no choice, I can assure you; sometimes Barrow Strait was closed to one of them, and the next year another found it open; sometimes the vessel wasirresistibly drawn towards Regent's Passage, so that we have endedby becoming acquainted with these inextricable seas. "

"What a singular country!" said the doctor, examining the map. "Itis all in pieces, and they seem to have no logical connection. Itseems as if the land in the vicinity of the North Pole had been cutup like this on purpose to make access to it more difficult, whilstthat in the other hemisphere quietly terminates in tapered-out pointslike those of Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and the IndianPeninsula. Is it the greater rapidity of the equator which has thusmodified matters, whilst the land at the extremities, yet fluid fromthe creation, has not been able to get condensed or agglomeratedtogether, for want of a sufficiently rapid rotation?"

"That must be the case, for everything on earth is logical, and'nothing is that errs from law, ' and God often allows men to discoverHis laws; make use of His permission, doctor. "

"Unfortunately, I shall not be able to take much advantage of it, "said the doctor, "but the wind here is something dreadful, " addedhe, muffling himself up as well as he could. 

"Yes, we are quite exposed to the north wind, and it is turning usout of our road. "

"Anyhow it ought to drive the ice down south, and level a clear road. "

"It ought to do so, doctor, but the wind does not always do what itought. Look, that ice-bank seems impenetrable. Never mind, we willtry to reach Griffith Island, sail round Cornwallis Island, and getinto Queen's Channel without going by Wellington Channel. Nevertheless I positively desire to touch at Beechey Island in orderto renew my coal provision. "

"What do you mean?" asked the astonished doctor. 

"I mean that, according to orders from the Admiralty, large provisionshave been deposited on that island in order to provide for futureexpeditions, and although Captain McClintock took some in 1859, Iassure you that there will be some left for us. "

"By-the-bye, " said the doctor, "these parts have been explored forthe last fifteen years, and since the day when the proof of the lossof Franklin was acquired, the Admiralty has always kept five or sixcruisers in these seas. If I am not mistaken, Griffith Island, whichI see there on the map, almost in the middle of the cross-roads, hasbecome a general meeting-place for navigators. "

"It is so, doctor; and Franklin's unfortunate expedition resultedin making known these distant countries to us. "

"That is true, captain, for since 1845 expeditions have been verynumerous. It was not until 1848 that we began to be uneasy about thedisappearance of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, Franklin's twovessels. It was then that we saw the admiral's old friend, Dr. Richardson, at the age of seventy, go to Canada, and ascend CoppermineRiver as far as the Polar Sea; and James Ross, commanding the_Enterprise_ and _Investigation_, set out from Uppernawik in 1848and arrived at Cape York, where we now are. Every day he threw a tubcontaining papers into the sea, for the purpose of making known hiswhereabouts. During the mists he caused the cannon to be fired, andhad sky-rockets sent up at night along with Bengal lights, and keptunder sail continually. He wintered in Port Leopold from 1848 to 1849, where he took possession of a great number of white foxes, and causedbrass collars, upon which was engraved the indication of thewhereabouts of ships and the store depots, to be riveted on theirnecks. Afterwards they were dispersed in all directions; in thefollowing spring he began to search the coasts of North Somerset onsledges in the midst of dangers and privations from which almost allhis men fell ill or lame. He built up cairns in which he inclosedbrass cylinders with the necessary memoranda for rallying the lostexpedition. While he was away his lieutenant McClure explored thenorthern coasts of Barrow Strait, but without result. James Ross hadunder his orders two officers who, later on, were destined to becomecelebrities--McClure, who cleared the North-West passage, andMcClintock, who discovered the remains of Sir John Franklin. "

"Yes; they are now two good and brave English captains. You know thehistory of these seas well, doctor, and you will benefit us by tellingus about it. There is always something to be gained by hearing aboutsuch daring attempts. "

"Well, to finish all I know about James Ross: he tried to reachMelville Island by a more westerly direction, but he nearly lost histwo vessels, for he was caught by the ice and driven back into Baffin'sSea. "

"Driven back?" repeated Hatteras, contracting his brows; "forcedback in spite of himself?"

"Yes, and without having discovered anything, " continued the doctor;"and ever since that year, 1850, English vessels have never ceasedto plough these seas, and a reward of twenty thousand pounds wasoffered to any one who might find the crews of the _Erebus_ and_Terror_. Captains Kellett and Moore had already, in 1848, attemptedto get through Behring's Strait. In 1850 and 1851 Captain Austinwintered in Cornwallis Island; Captain Parry, on board the_Assistance_ and the _Resolute_, explored Wellington Channel; JohnRoss, the venerable hero of the magnetic pole, set out again withhis yacht, the _Felix_, in search of his friend; the brig _PrinceAlbert_ went on a first cruise at the expense of Lady Franklin; and, lastly, two American ships, sent out by Grinnell with Captain Haven, were drifted out of Wellington Channel and thrown back into LancasterStrait. It was during this year that McClintock, who was then Austin'slieutenant, pushed on as far as Melville Island and Cape Dundas, theextreme points attained by Parry in 1819; it was then that he foundtraces of Franklin's wintering on Beechey Island in 1845. "

"Yes, " answered Hatteras, "three of his sailors had been buriedthere--three men more fortunate than the others!"

The doctor nodded in approval of Hatteras's remark, and continued:

"During 1851 and 1852 the _Prince Albert_ went on a second voyageunder the French lieutenant, Bellot; he wintered at Batty Bay, inPrince Regent Strait, explored the south-west of Somerset, andreconnoitred the coast as far as Cape Walker. During that time the_Enterprise_ and the _Investigator_ returned to England and passedunder the command of Collinson and McClure for the purpose ofrejoining Kellett and Moore in Behring's Straits; whilst Collinsoncame back to winter at Hong-Kong, McClure made the best of his wayonward, and after being obliged to winter three times--from 1850 to'51; from 1851 to '52; and from 1852 to '53--he discovered theNorth-West passage without learning anything of Franklin's fate. During 1852 and '53 a new expedition composed of three sailing vessels, the _Resolute_, the _Assistance_, the _North Star_, and two steamers, the _Pioneer_ and _Intrepid_, set sail under the command of Sir EdwardBelcher, with Captain Kellett under him; Sir Edward visitedWellington Channel, wintered in Northumberland Bay, and went overthe coast, whilst Kellett, pushing on to Bridport in Melville Island, explored, without success, that part of the boreal land. It was atthis time that news was spread in England that two ships, abandonedin the midst of icebergs, had been descried near the coast of NewScotland. Lady Franklin immediately had prepared the little screw_Isabelle_, and Captain Inglefield, after having steamed up Baffin'sBay as far as Victoria Point on the eightieth parallel, came backto Beechey Island no more successful than his predecessors. At thebeginning of 1855, Grinnell, an American, fitted up a fresh expedition, and Captain Kane tried to penetrate to the Pole----"

"But he didn't do it, " cried Hatteras violently; "and what he didn'tdo we will, with God's help!"

"I know, captain, " answered the doctor, "and I mention it becausethis expedition is of necessity connected with the search for Franklin. But it had no result. I was almost forgetting to tell you that theAdmiralty, considering Beechey Island as the general rendezvous ofexpeditions, charged Captain Inglefield, who then commanded thesteamer _Phoenix_, to transport provisions there in 1853; Inglefieldset out with Lieutenant Bellot, and lost the brave officer who forthe second time had devoted his services to England; we can have moreprecise details upon this catastrophe, as our boatswain, Johnson, was witness to the misfortune. "

"Lieutenant Bellot was a brave Frenchman, " said Hatteras, "and hismemory is honoured in England. "

"By that time, " continued the doctor, "Belcher's fleet began to comeback little by little; not all of it, for Sir Edward had been obligedto abandon the _Assistance_ in 1854, as McClure had done with the_Investigator_ in 1853. In the meantime, Dr. Rae, in a letter datedthe 29th of July, 1854, and addressed from Repulse Bay, which he hadsucceeded in reaching through America, sent word that the Esquimauxof King William's Land were in possession of different objects takenfrom the wrecks of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_; there was then not theleast doubt about the fate of the expedition; the _Phoenix_, the_North Star_, and Collinson's vessel then came back to England, leaving the Arctic Seas completely abandoned by English ships. Butif the Government seemed to have lost all hope it was not so withLady Franklin, and with the remnants of her fortune she fitted outthe _Fox_, commanded by McClintock, who set sail in 1857, and winteredin the quarters where you made your apparition; he reached BeecheyIsland on the 11th of August, 1858, wintered a second time in Bellot'sStrait, began his search again in February, 1859, and on the 6th ofMay found the document which cleared away all doubt about the fateof the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, and returned to England at the endof the year. That is all that has happened for fifteen years in thesefateful countries, and since the return of the _Fox_ not a singlevessel has returned to attempt success in the midst of these dangerousseas. "

"Well, " replied Hatteras, "we will attempt it. "

CHAPTER XV

THE "FORWARD" DRIVEN BACK SOUTH

The weather cleared up towards evening, and land was clearlydistinguished between Cape Sepping and Cape Clarence, which runs east, then south, and is joined to the coast on the west by a rather lowneck of land. The sea at the entrance to Regent Strait was free fromice, with the exception of an impenetrable ice-bank, a little furtherthan Port Leopold, which threatened to stop the _Forward_ in hernorth-westerly course. Hatteras was greatly vexed, but he did notshow it; he was obliged to have recourse to petards in order to forcean entrance to Port Leopold; he reached it on Sunday, the 27th ofMay; the brig was solidly anchored to the enormous icebergs, whichwere as upright, hard, and solid as rocks. 

The captain, followed by the doctor, Johnson, and his dog Dick, immediately leaped upon the ice, and soon reached land. Dick leapedwith joy, for since he had recognised the captain he had become moresociable, keeping his grudge against certain men of the crew for whomhis master had no more friendship than he. The port was not thenblocked up with ice that the east winds generally heaped up there;the earth, intersected with peaks, offered at their summits gracefulundulations of snow. The house and lantern erected by James Ross werestill in a tolerable state of preservation; but the provisions seemedto have been ransacked by foxes and bears, the recent traces of whichwere easily distinguished. Men, too, had had something to do withthe devastation, for a few remains of Esquimaux huts remained uponthe shores of the Bay. The six graves inclosing the remains of thesix sailors of the _Enterprise_ and the _Investigator_ wererecognisable by a slight swelling of the ground; they had beenrespected both by men and animals. In placing his foot for the firsttime on boreal land, the doctor experienced much emotion. It isimpossible to imagine the feelings with which the heart is assailedat the sight of the remains of houses, tents, huts, and magazinesthat Nature so marvellously preserves in those cold countries. 

"There is that residence, " he said to his companions, "which JamesRoss himself called the Camp of Refuge; if Franklin's expedition hadreached this spot, it would have been saved. There is the engine whichwas abandoned here, and the stove at which the crew of the _PrinceAlbert_ warmed themselves in 1851. Things have remained just as theywere, and any one would think that Captain Kennedy had only leftyesterday. Here is the long boat which sheltered him and his for afew days, for this Kennedy, separated from his ship, was in realitysaved by Lieutenant Bellot, who braved the October temperature inorder to go to his assistance. "

"I knew that brave and worthy officer, " said Johnson. 

Whilst the doctor was examining with all an antiquarian's enthusiasmthe vestiges of previous winterings, Hatteras was occupied in pilingtogether the various provisions and articles of fuel, which were onlyto be found in very small quantities. The following day was employedin transporting them on board. The doctor, without going too far fromthe ship, surveyed the country, and took sketches of the mostremarkable points of view. The temperature rose by degrees, and theheaped-up snow began to melt. The doctor made an almost completecollection of northern birds, such as gulls, divers, eider-down ducks, which are very much like common ducks, with white breasts and backs, blue bellies, the top of the head blue, and the remainder of theplumage white, shaded with green; several of them had already theirbreasts stripped of that beautiful down with which the male and femaleline their nests. The doctor also perceived large seals taking breathon the surface of the ice, but could not shoot one. In his excursionshe discovered the high water mark, a stone upon which the followingsigns are engraved:

 (E. I. ) 1849, and which indicate the passage of the _Enterprise_ and_Investigator_; he pushed forward as far as Cape Clarence to the spotwhere John and James Ross, in 1833, waited with so much impatiencefor the breaking up of the ice. The land was strewn with skulls andbones of animals, and traces of Esquimaux habitations could be stilldistinguished. 

The doctor wanted to raise up a cairn on Port Leopold, and depositin it a note indicating the passage of the _Forward_, and the aimof the expedition. But Hatteras would not hear of it; he did not wantto leave traces behind of which a competitor might take advantage. In spite of his good motives the doctor was forced to yield to thecaptain's will. Shandon blamed the captain's obstinacy, whichprevented any ships following the trace of the _Forward_ in case ofaccident. Hatteras would not give way. His lading was finished onMonday night, and he attempted once more to gain the north by breakingopen the ice-bank; but after dangerous efforts he was forced to resignhimself, and to go down Regent's Channel again; he would not stopat Port Leopold, which, open to-day, might be closed again to-morrowby an unexpected displacement of ice-fields, a very frequentphenomenon in these seas, and which navigators ought particularlyto take into consideration. 

If Hatteras did not allow his uneasiness to be outwardly perceived, it did not prevent him feeling it inwardly. His desire was to pushnorthward, whilst, on the contrary, he found himself constrained toput back southward. Where should he get to in that case? Should hebe obliged to put back to Victoria Harbour, in Boothia Gulf, whereSir John Ross wintered in 1833? Would he find Bellot Strait open atthat epoch, and could he ascend Peel Strait by rounding NorthSomerset? Or, again, should he, like his predecessors, find himselfcaptured during several winters, and be compelled to exhaust hisstrength and provisions? These fears were fermenting in his brain;he must decide one way or other. He heaved about, and struck out south. The width of Prince Regent's Channel is about the same from PortLeopold to Adelaide Bay. The _Forward_, more favoured than the shipswhich had preceded her, and of which the greater number had requiredmore than a month to descend the channel, even in a more favourableseason, made her way rapidly amongst the icebergs; it is true thatother ships, with the exception of the _Fox_, had no steam at theirdisposal, and had to endure the caprices of an uncertain and oftenfoul wind. 

In general the crew showed little wish to push on with the enterprisingHatteras; the men were only too glad to perceive that the vessel wastaking a southerly direction. Hatteras would have liked to go onregardless of consequences. 

The _Forward_ rushed along under the pressure of her engines, thesmoke from which twisted round the shining points of the icebergs;the weather was constantly changing from dry cold to snowy fogs. Thebrig, which drew little water, sailed along the west coast; Hatterasdid not wish to miss the entrance to Bellot Strait, as the only outletto the Gulf of Boothia on the south was the strait, only partiallyknown to the _Fury_ and the _Hecla_; if he missed the Bellot Strait, he might be shut up without possibility of egress. 

In the evening the _Forward_ was in sight of Elwin Bay, known by itshigh perpendicular rocks; on the Tuesday morning Batty Bay was sighted, where the _Prince Albert_ anchored for its long wintering on the 10thof September, 1851. The doctor swept the whole coast with histelescope. It was from this point that the expeditions radiated thatestablished the geographical configuration of North Somerset. Theweather was clear, and the profound ravines by which the bay issurrounded could be clearly distinguished. 

The doctor and Johnson were perhaps the only beings on board who tookany interest in these deserted countries. Hatteras was always intentupon his maps, and said little; his taciturnity increased as the briggot more and more south; he often mounted the poop, and there withfolded arms, and eyes lost in vacancy, he stood for hours. His orders, when he gave any, were curt and rough. Shandon kept a cold silence, and kept himself so much aloof by degrees that at last he had norelations with Hatteras except those exacted by the service; JamesWall remained devoted to Shandon, and regulated his conductaccordingly. The remainder of the crew waited for something to turnup, ready to take any advantage in their own interest. There was nolonger that unity of thought and communion of ideas on board whichare so necessary for the accomplishment of anything great, and thisHatteras knew to his sorrow. 

During the day two whales were perceived rushing towards the south;a white bear was also seen, and was shot at without any apparentsuccess. The captain knew the value of an hour under the circumstances, and would not allow the animal to be chased. 

On Wednesday morning the extremity of Regent's Channel was passed;the angle on the west coast was followed by a deep curve in the land. By consulting his map the doctor recognised the point of SomersetHouse, or Fury Point. 

"There, " said he to his habitual companion--"there is the very spotwhere the first English ship, sent into these seas in 1815, was lost, during the third of Parry's voyages to the Pole; the _Fury_ was sodamaged by the ice on her second wintering, that her crew were obligedto desert her and return to England on board her companion ship the_Hecla_. "

"That shows the advantage of having a second ship, " answered Johnson. "It is a precaution that Polar navigators ought not to neglect, butCaptain Hatteras wasn't the sort of man to trouble himself withanother ship. "

"Do you think he is imprudent, Johnson?" asked the doctor. 

"I? I think nothing, Mr. Clawbonny. Do you see those stakes over therewith some rotten tent-rags still hanging to them?"

"Yes; that's where Parry disembarked his provisions from his ship, and, if I remember rightly, the roof of his tent was a topsail. "

"Everything must be greatly changed since 1825!"

"Not so much as any one might think. John Ross owed the health andsafety of his crew to that fragile habitation in 1829. When the _PrinceAlbert_ sent an expedition there in 1851, it was still existing;Captain Kennedy had it repaired, nine years ago now. It would beinteresting to visit it, but Hatteras isn't in the humour to stop!"

"I daresay he is right, Mr. Clawbonny; if time is money in England, here it is life, and a day's or even an hour's delay might make allthe difference. "

During the day of Thursday, the 1st of June, the _Forward_ cut acrossCreswell Bay; from Fury Point the coast rose towards the north inperpendicular rocks three hundred feet high; it began to get lowertowards the south; some snow summits looked like neatly-cut tables, whilst others were shaped like pyramids, and had other strange forms. 

The weather grew milder during that day, but was not so clear; landwas lost to sight, and the thermometer went up to thirty-two degrees;seafowl fluttered about, the flocks of wild ducks were seen flyingnorth; the crew could divest themselves of some of their garments, and the influence of the Arctic summer began to be felt. Towardsevening the _Forward_ doubled Cape Garry at a quarter of a mile fromthe shore, where the soundings gave from ten to twelve fathoms; fromthence she kept near the coast as far as Brentford Bay. It was underthis latitude that Bellot Strait was to be met with; a strait theexistence of which Sir John Ross did not even guess at during hisexpedition in 1828; his maps indicated an uninterrupted coast-line, whose irregularities he noted with the utmost care; the entrance tothe strait must therefore have been blocked up by ice at the time. It was really discovered by Kennedy in April, 1852, and he gave itthe name of his lieutenant, Bellot, as "a just tribute, " he said, "to the important services rendered to our expedition by the Frenchofficer. "

CHAPTER XVI

THE MAGNETIC POLE

Hatteras felt his anxiety increase as he neared the strait; the fateof his voyage depended upon it; up till now he had done more thanhis predecessors, the most fortunate of whom, McClintock, had takenfifteen months to reach this part of the Polar Seas; but it was littleor nothing if he did not succeed in clearing Bellot Strait; he couldnot retrace his steps, and would be blocked up till the followingyear. 

He trusted the care of examining the coast to no one but himself;he mounted the crow's nest and passed several hours there during themorning of Saturday. The crew perfectly understood the ship'sposition; profound silence reigned on board; the engine slackenedsteam, and the _Forward_ kept as near land as possible; the coastbristled with icebergs, which the warmest summers do not melt; anexperienced eye alone could distinguish an opening between them. Hatteras compared his maps with the land. As the sun showed himselffor an instant towards noon, he caused Shandon and Wall to take apretty exact observation, which was shouted to him. All the crewsuffered the tortures of anxiety for half the day, but towards twoo'clock these words were shouted from the top of the mizenmast:

"Veer to the west, all steam on. "

The brig instantly obeyed; her prow was directed towards the pointindicated; the sea foamed under the screws, and the _Forward_, withall speed on, entered between two ice-streams. The road was found, Hatteras descended upon deck, and the ice-master took his place. 

"Well, captain, " said the doctor, "we are in the famous strait atlast. "

"Yes, " answered Hatteras, lowering his voice; "but getting in isn'teverything; we must get out too, " and so saying he regained his cabin. 

"He's right, " said the doctor; "we are here in a sort of mousetrap, with scarcely enough space for working the brig, and if we are forcedto winter in the strait!... Well, we shan't be the first that havehad to do it, and they got over it, and so shall we. "

The doctor was not mistaken. It was in that very place, in a littlesheltered harbour called Kennedy Harbour by McClintock himself, thatthe _Fox_ wintered in 1858. The high granite chain and the steep cliffsof the two banks were clearly discernible. 

Bellot Strait is seventeen miles long and a mile wide, and about sixor seven fathoms deep. It lies between mountains whose height isestimated at 1, 600 feet. It separates North Somerset from BoothiaLand. 

It is easy to understand that there is not much elbow-room for vesselsin such a strait. The _Forward_ advanced slowly, but it did advance;tempests are frequent in the strait, and the brig did not escape them;by Hatteras's order all sails were furled; but, notwithstanding allprecautions, the brig was much knocked about; the waves dashed overher, and her smoke fled towards the east with astonishing rapidity;her course was not certain amongst the moving ice; the barometer fell;it was difficult to stop on deck, and most of the men stayed belowto avoid useless suffering. 

Hatteras, Johnson, and Shandon remained on the poop in spite of thegales of snow and rain; as usual the doctor had asked himself whatwould be the most disagreeable thing he could do, and answered himselfby going on deck at once; it was impossible to hear and difficultto see one another, so that he kept his reflections to himself. Hatteras tried to see through the fog; he calculated that they wouldbe at the mouth of the strait at six o'clock, but when the time cameall issue seemed closed up; he was obliged to wait and anchor thebrig to an iceberg; but he stopped under pressure all night. 

The weather was frightful. The _Forward_ threatened to break herchains at every instant; it was feared that the iceberg to which theywere anchored, torn away at its base under the violent west wind, would float away with the brig. The officers were constantly on thelook-out and under extreme apprehension; along with the snow therefell a perfect hail of ice torn off from the surface of the icebergsby the strength of the wind; it was like a shower of arrows bristlingin the atmosphere. The temperature rose singularly during thisterrible night; the thermometer marked fifty-seven degrees, and thedoctor, to his great astonishment, thought he saw flashes of lightningin the south, followed by the roar of far-off thunder that seemedto corroborate the testimony of the whaler Scoresby, who observeda similar phenomenon above the sixty-fifth parallel. Captain Parrywas also witness to a similar meteorological wonder in 1821. 

Towards five o'clock in the morning the weather changed withastonishing rapidity; the temperature went down to freezing point, the wind turned north, and became calmer. The western opening to thestrait was in sight, but entirely obstructed. Hatteras looked eagerlyat the coast, asking himself if the passage really existed. However, the brig got under way, and glided slowly amongst the ice-streams, whilst the icebergs pressed noisily against her planks, the packsat that epoch were still from six to seven feet thick; they wereobliged carefully to avoid their pressure, for if the brig hadresisted them she would have run the risk of being lifted up and turnedover on her side. At noon, for the first time, they could admire amagnificent solar phenomenon, a halo with two parhelia; the doctorobserved it, and took its exact dimensions; the exterior bow was onlyvisible over an extent of thirty degrees on each side of its horizontaldiameter; the two images of the sun were remarkably clear; the coloursof the luminous bows proceeded from inside to outside, and were red, yellow, green, and very light blue--in short, white light withoutany assignable exterior limit. The doctor remembered the ingenioustheory of Thomas Young about these meteors; this natural philosophersupposed that certain clouds composed of prisms of ice are suspendedin the atmosphere; the rays of the sun that fall on the prisms aredecomposed at angles of sixty and ninety degrees. Halos cannot, therefore, exist in a calm atmosphere. The doctor thought this theoryvery probable. Sailors accustomed to the boreal seas generallyconsider this phenomenon as the precursor of abundant snow. If theirobservation was just, the position of the _Forward_ became verydifficult. Hatteras, therefore, resolved to go on fast; during theremainder of the day and following night he did not take a minute'srest, sweeping the horizon with his telescope, taking advantage ofthe least opening, and losing no occasion of getting out of the strait. 

But in the morning he was obliged to stop before the insuperableice-bank. The doctor joined him on the poop. Hatteras went with himapart where they could talk without fear of being overheard. 

"We are in for it, " began Hatteras; "it is impossible to go anyfurther. "

"Is there no means of getting out?" asked the doctor. 

"None. All the powder in the _Forward_ would not make us gain halfa mile!"

"What shall we do, then?" said the doctor. 

"I don't know. This cursed year has been unfavourable from thebeginning. "

"Well, " answered the doctor, "if we must winter here, we must. Oneplace is as good as another. "

"But, " said Hatteras, lowering his voice, "we must not winter here, especially in the month of June. Wintering is full of physical andmoral danger. The crew would be unmanageable during a long inactionin the midst of real suffering. I thought I should be able to stopmuch nearer the Pole than this!"

"Luck would have it so, or Baffin's Bay wouldn't have been closed. "

"It was open enough for that American!" cried Hatteras in a rage. 

"Come, Hatteras, " said the doctor, interrupting him on purpose, "to-day is only the 5th of June; don't despair; a passage may suddenlyopen up before us; you know that the ice has a tendency to break upinto several blocks, even in the calmest weather, as if a force ofrepulsion acted upon the different parts of it; we may find the seafree at any minute. "

"If that minute comes we shall take advantage of it. It is quitepossible that, once out of Bellot Strait, we shall be able to go northby Peel Strait or McClintock Channel, and then----"

"Captain, " said James Wall, who had come up while Hatteras wasspeaking, "the ice nearly carries off our rudder. "

"Well, " answered Hatteras, "we must risk it. We must be ready dayand night. You must do all you can to protect it, Mr. Wall, but Ican't have it removed. "

"But----" added Wall. 

"That is my business, " said Hatteras severely, and Wall went backto his post. 

"I would give five years of my life, " said Hatteras, in a rage, "tobe up north. I know no more dangerous passage. To add to the difficulty, the compass is no guide at this distance from the magnetic pole: theneedle is constantly shifting its direction. "

"I acknowledge, " answered the doctor, "that navigation is difficult, but we knew what we had to expect when we began our enterprise, andwe ought not to be surprised at it. "

"Ah, doctor, my crew is no longer what it was; the officers arespoiling the men. I could make them do what I want by offering thema pecuniary reward, but I am not seconded by my officers, but theyshall pay dearly for it!"

"You are exaggerating, Hatteras. "

"No, I am not. Do you think the crew is sorry for the obstacles thatI meet with? On the contrary, they hope they will make me abandonmy projects. They do not complain now, and they won't as long as the_Forward_ is making for the south. The fools! They think they aregetting nearer England! But once let me go north and you'll see howthey'll change! I swear, though, that no living being will make medeviate from my line of conduct. Only let me find a passage, that'sall!"

One of the captain's wishes was fulfilled soon enough. There was asudden change during the evening; under some influence of the wind, the current, or the temperature, the ice-fields were separated; the_Forward_ went along boldly, breaking up the ice with her steel prow;she sailed along all night, and the next morning about six clearedBellot Strait. But that was all; the northern passage was completelyobstructed--to the great disgust of Hatteras. However, he hadsufficient strength of character to hide his disappointment, and asif the only passage open was the one he preferred, he let the _Forward_sail down Franklin Strait again; not being able to get up Peel Strait, he resolved to go round Prince of Wales's Land to get into McClintockChannel. But he felt he could not deceive Shandon and Wall as to theextent of his disappointment. The day of the 6th of June wasuneventful; the sky was full of snow, and the prognostics of the halowere fulfilled. 

During thirty-six hours the _Forward_ followed the windings ofBoothia Land, unable to approach Prince of Wales's Land; the captaincounted upon getting supplies at Beechey Island; he arrived on theThursday at the extremity of Franklin Strait, where he again foundthe road to the north blocked up. It was enough to make him despair;he could not even retrace his steps; the icebergs pushed him onwards, and he saw the passages close up behind him as if there never hadexisted open sea where he had passed an hour before. The _Forward_was, therefore, not only prevented from going northwards, but couldnot stop still an instant for fear of being caught, and she fled beforethe ice as a ship flies before a storm. 

On Friday, the 8th of June, they arrived near the shore of Boothia, at the entrance to James Ross Strait, which they were obliged to avoid, as its only issue is on the west, near the American coasts. 

Observations taken at noon from this point gave 70 degrees 5 minutes17 seconds latitude, and 96 degrees 46 minutes 45 seconds longitude;when the doctor heard that he consulted his map, and saw they wereat the magnetic pole, at the very place where James Ross, the nephewof Sir John, had fixed it. The land was low near the coast, and atabout a mile's distance became slightly elevated, sixty feet only. The _Forward's_ boiler wanted cleaning, and the captain caused thebrig to be anchored to an ice-field, and allowed the doctor and theboatswain to land. He himself cared for nothing but his pet project, and stayed in his cabin, consulting his map of the Pole. 

The doctor and his companion easily succeeded in reaching land; thedoctor took a compass to make experiments with. He wished to try ifJames Ross's conclusions hold good. He easily discovered thelimestone heap raised by Ross; he ran to it; an opening allowed himto see, in the interior, the tin case in which James Ross had placedthe official report of his discoveries. No living being seemed tohave visited this desolate coast for the last thirty years. In thisspot a loadstone needle, suspended as delicately as possible, immediately moved into an almost vertical position under the magneticinfluence; if the centre of attraction was not immediately under theneedle, it could only be at a trifling distance. The doctor made theexperiment carefully, and found that the imperfect instruments ofJames Ross had given his vertical needle an inclination of 89 degrees59 minutes, making the real magnetic point at a minute's distancefrom the spot, but that his own at a little distance gave him aninclination of 90 degrees. 

"Here is the exact spot of the world's magnetic pole, " said the doctor, rapping the earth. 

"Then, " said the boatswain, "there's no loadstone mountain, afterall. "

"Of course not; that mountain was only a credulous hypothesis. Asyou see, there isn't the least mountain capable of attracting ships, of attracting their iron anchor after anchor and nail after nail, and you see it respects your shoes as much as any other land on theglobe. "

"Then how do you explain----"

"Nothing is explained, Johnson; we don't know enough for that yet. But it is certain, exact, mathematical, that the magnetic pole isin this very spot!"

"Ah, Mr. Clawbonny! how happy the captain would be to say as muchof the boreal pole!"

"He will some day, Johnson, you will see. "

"I hope he will, " answered the boatswain. 

He and the doctor elevated a cairn on the exact spot where theexperiment had been made, and returned on board at five o'clock inthe evening. 

CHAPTER XVII

THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN

The _Forward_ succeeded in cutting straight across James Ross Strait, but not without difficulty; the crew were obliged to work the sawsand use petards, and they were worn out with fatigue. Happily thetemperature was bearable, and thirty degrees higher than thatexperienced by James Ross at the same epoch. The thermometer markedthirty-four degrees. 

On Saturday they doubled Cape Felix at the northern extremity of KingWilliam's Land, one of the middle-sized isles of the northern seas. The crew there experienced a strong and painful sensation, and manya sad look was turned towards the island as they sailed by the coast. This island had been the theatre of the most terrible tragedy of moderntimes. Some miles to the west the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ had beenlost for ever. The sailors knew about the attempts made to find AdmiralFranklin and the results, but they were ignorant of the affectingdetails of the catastrophe. While the doctor was following theprogress of the ship on his map, several of them, Bell, Bolton, andSimpson, approached and entered into conversation with him. Theircomrades, animated by curiosity, soon followed them; while the brigflew along with extreme rapidity, and the coast with its bays, capes, and promontories passed before their eyes like a gigantic panorama. 

Hatteras was marching up and down the poop with quick steps. The doctor, on the deck, looked round, and saw himself surrounded by almost thewhole crew. He saw how powerful a recital would be in such a situation, and he continued the conversation begun with Johnson as follows:--

"You know how Franklin began, my friends; he was a cabin-boy likeCook and Nelson; after having employed his youth in great maritimeexpeditions, he resolved in 1845 to launch out in search of theNorth-West passage; he commanded the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, twovessels, already famous, that had just made an Antarctic campaignunder James Ross, in 1840. The _Erebus_, equipped by Franklin, carrieda crew of seventy men, officers and sailors, with Fitz-James ascaptain; Gore and Le Vesconte, lieutenants; Des Voeux, Sargent, andCouch, boatswains; and Stanley as surgeon. The _Terror_ hadsixty-eight men, Captain Crozier; Lieutenants Little, Hodgson, andIrving; Horesby and Thomas were the boatswains, and Peddie the surgeon. In the names on the map of the capes, straits, points, and channels, you may read those of these unfortunate men, not one of whom wasdestined ever again to see his native land. There were a hundred andthirty-eight men in all! We know that Franklin's last letters wereaddressed from Disko Island, and were dated July 12th, 1845. 'I hope, 'he said, 'to get under way to-night for Lancaster Strait. ' Whathappened after his departure from Disko Bay? The captains of twowhalers, the _Prince of Wales_ and the _Enterprise_, perceived thetwo ships in Melville Bay for the last time, and after that day nothingwas heard of them. However, we can follow Franklin in his westerlycourse: he passed through Lancaster and Barrow Straits, and arrivedat Beechey Island, where he passed the winter of 1845 and '46. "

"But how do you know all this?" asked Bell, the carpenter. 

"By three tombs which Austin discovered on that island in 1850. Threeof Franklin's sailors were buried there, and by a document which wasfound by Lieutenant Hobson, of the _Fox_, which bears the date ofApril 25th, 1848, we know that after their wintering the _Erebus_and the _Terror_ went up Wellington Strait as far as theseventy-seventh parallel; but instead of continuing their routenorthwards, which was, probably, not practicable, they returnedsouth. "

"And that was their ruin!" said a grave voice. "Safety lay to thenorth. "

Every one turned round. Hatteras, leaning on the rail of the poop, had just uttered that terrible observation. 

"There is not a doubt, " continued the doctor, "that Franklin'sintention was to get back to the American coast; but tempests stoppedhim, and on the 12th September, 1846, the two ships were seized bythe ice, at a few miles from here, to the north-west of Cape Felix;they were dragged along N. N. W. To Victoria Point over there, " saidthe doctor, pointing to a part of the sea. "Now, " he continued, "theships were not abandoned till the 22nd of April, 1848. What happenedduring these nineteen months? What did the poor unfortunate men do?They, doubtless, explored the surrounding land, attempting anychance of safety, for the admiral was an energetic man, and if hedid not succeed----"

"Very likely his crew betrayed him, " added Hatteras. 

The sailors dared not raise their eyes; these words pricked theirconscience. 

"To end my tale, the fatal document informs us also that John Franklinsuccumbed to fatigue on the 11th of June, 1847. Honour to his memory!"said the doctor, taking off his hat. His audience imitated him insilence. 

"What became of the poor fellows for the next ten months after theyhad lost their chief? They remained on board their vessels, and onlyresolved to abandon them in April, 1848; a hundred and five men outof a hundred and thirty-eight were still living; thirty-three weredead! Then Captain Crozier and Captain Fitz-James raised a cairn onVictory Point, and there deposited their last document. See, myfriends, we are passing the point now! You can still see the remainsof the cairn placed on the extreme point, reached by John Ross in1831. There is Jane Franklin Cape. There is Franklin Point. Thereis Le Vesconte Point. There is Erebus Bay, where the boat made outof the _debris_ of one of the vessels was found on a sledge. Silverspoons, provisions in abundance, chocolate, tea, and religious bookswere found there too. The hundred and five survivors, under CaptainCrozier, started for Great Fish River. Where did they get to? Didthey succeed in reaching Hudson's Bay? Did any survive? What becameof them after this last departure?"

"I will tell you what became of them, " said John Hatteras in a firmvoice. "Yes, they did try to reach Hudson's Bay, and they split upinto several parties! Yes, they did make for the south! A letter fromDr. Rae in 1854 contained the information that in 1850 the Esquimauxhad met on King William's Land a detachment of forty men travellingon the ice, and dragging a boat, thin, emaciated, worn out by fatigueand suffering! Later on they discovered thirty corpses on thecontinent and five on a neighbouring island, some half-buried, someleft without burial, some under a boat turned upside down, othersunder the remains of a tent; here an officer with his telescope onhis shoulder and a loaded gun at his side, further on a boiler withthe remnants of a horrible meal! When the Admiralty received thesetidings it begged the Hudson's Bay Company to send its mostexperienced agents to the scene. They descended Back River to itsmouth. They visited the islands of Montreal, Maconochie, and OglePoint. But they discovered nothing. All the poor wretches had diedfrom misery, suffering, and hunger, whilst trying to prolong theirexistence by the dreadful resource of cannibalism. That is what becameof them on the southern route. Well! Do you still wish to march intheir footsteps?"

His trembling voice, his passionate gestures and beaming face, produced an indescribable effect. The crew, excited by its emotionbefore this fatal land, cried out with one voice: "To the north! Tothe north!"

"Yes, to the north! Safety and glory lie to the north. Heaven is forus! The wind is changing; the pass is free!"

So saying, Hatteras gave orders to turn the vessel; the sailors wentto work with alacrity; the ice streams got clear little by little;the _Forward_, with all steam on, made for McClintock Channel. Hatteras was right when he counted upon a more open sea; he followedup the supposed route taken by Franklin, sailing along the westerncoast of Prince of Wales's Land, then pretty well known, whilst theopposite shore is still unknown. It was evident that the breakingup of the ice had taken place in the eastern locks, for this straitappeared entirely free; the _Forward_ made up for lost time; she fledalong so quickly that she passed Osborne Bay on the 14th of June, and the extreme points attained by the expeditions of 1851. Icebergswere still numerous, but the sea did not threaten to quit the keelof the _Forward_. 

CHAPTER XVIII

THE NORTHERN ROUTE

The crew seemed to have returned to its habits of discipline andobedience. There was little fatiguing work to do, and they had a gooddeal of leisure. The temperature kept above freezing point, and itseemed as if the thaw had removed the great obstacles to navigation. 

Dick, now sociable and familiar, had made great friends with Dr. Clawbonny. But as in most friendships one friend has to give way tothe other, it must be acknowledged it was not the dog. Dick did whathe liked with the doctor, who obeyed him as if he were the dog. Hewas amiable with most of the sailors and officers on board, only byinstinct, doubtless, he shunned Shandon's society; he also kept upa grudge against Pen and Foker; he vented his hatred of them bygrowling at their approach. But they dare not now attack the captain'sdog--his "familiar, " as Clifton called him. On the whole the crewhad plucked up courage again and worked well. 

"It seems to me, " said James Wall one day to Richard Shandon, "thatour men took the captain's speech seriously; they no longer seem tobe doubtful of success. "

"The more fools they!" answered Shandon. "If they reflected, if theyexamined the situation, they would see that we are going out of oneimprudence into another. "

"But, " continued Wall, "the sea is open now, and we are getting backinto well-known tracks; aren't you exaggerating a bit, Shandon?"

"No, I am not exaggerating; the dislike I feel to Hatteras is notblinding me. Have you seen the coal-holes lately?"

"No, " answered Wall. 

"Well, then, go and examine them: you will see how much there's left. He ought to have navigated under sail, and have kept the engine forcurrents and contrary winds; he ought only to have used his coal wherehe was obliged; who can tell where we shall be kept, and for how manyyears? But Hatteras only thinks about getting north. Whether the windis contrary or not, he goes along at full steam, and if things goon as they are doing now, we shall soon be in a pretty pickle. "

"If what you say is true, it is very serious. "

"Yes, it is, because of the wintering. What shall we do without coalin a country where even the thermometer freezes?"

"But, if I am not mistaken, the captain counts upon renewing his stockof coal at Beechey Island. It appears there is a large provisionthere. "

"And suppose we can't reach Beechey Island, what will become of usthen?"

"You are right, Shandon; Hatteras seems to me very imprudent; butwhy don't you expostulate with him on the subject?"

"No, " said Shandon, with ill-concealed bitterness, "I won't say aword. It is nothing to do with me now. I shall wait to see what turnsup; I shall obey orders, and not give my opinion where it isn'twanted. "

"Allow me to tell you that you are in the wrong, Shandon; you haveas much interest in setting yourself against the captain's imprudenceas we have. "

"He wouldn't listen to me if I were to speak; do you think he would?"

Wall dared not answer in the affirmative, and he added--

"But perhaps he would listen to the crew. "

"The crew!" answered Shandon, shrugging his shoulders; "you don'tknow the crew. The men know they are nearing the 72nd parallel, andthat they will earn a thousand pounds for every degree above that. "

"The captain knew what he was doing when he offered them that. "

"Of course he did, and for the present he can do what he likes withthem. "

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that while they have nothing to do, and there is an open sea, they will go on right enough; but wait till difficulty and dangercome, and you will see how much they'll think about the money!"

"Then you don't think Hatteras will succeed?"

"No, he will not; to succeed in such an enterprise there must be agood understanding between him and his officers, and that does notexist. Hatteras is a madman; all his past career proves it. Well, we shall see; perhaps circumstances will force them to give thecommand to a less adventurous captain. "

"Still, " said Wall, shaking his head, "he will always have on hisside----"

"Dr. Clawbonny, a man who only cares for science, and Johnson, a sailorwho only cares to obey, and perhaps two more men like Bell, thecarpenter; four at the most, and we are eighteen on board! No, Wall, Hatteras has not got the confidence of his men, and he knows it, sohe bribes them; he profited cleverly by the Franklin affair, but thatwon't last, I tell you, and if he doesn't reach Beechey Island he'sa lost man!"

"Suppose the crew should take it into its head----"

"Don't tell the crew what I think, " answered Shandon quickly; "themen will soon see for themselves. Besides, just now we must go north. Who knows if Hatteras won't find that way will bring us back sooner?At the end of McClintock Channel lies Melville Bay, and from thencego the straits that lead to Baffin's Bay. Hatteras must take care!The way to the east is easier than the road to the north!"

Hatteras was not mistaken in his opinion that Shandon would betrayhim if he could. Besides, Shandon was right in attributing thecontentment of the men to the hope of gain. Clifton had counted exactlyhow much each man would have. Without reckoning the captain and thedoctor, who would not expect a share in the bounty-money, thereremained sixteen men to divide it amongst. If ever they succeededin reaching the Pole, each man would have 1, 125 pounds--that is tosay, a fortune. It would cost the captain 18, 000 pounds, but he couldafford it. The thoughts of the money inflamed the minds of the crew, and they were now as anxious to go north as before they had been eagerto turn south. The _Forward_ during the day of June 16th passed CapeAworth. Mount Rawlinson raised its white peaks towards the sky; thesnow and fog made it appear colossal, as they exaggerated itsdistance; the temperature still kept some degrees above freezingpoint; improvised cascades and cataracts showed themselves on thesides of the mountains, and avalanches roared down with the noiseof artillery discharges. The glaciers, spread out in long white sheets, projected an immense reverberation into space. Boreal nature, in itsstruggle with the frost, presented a splendid spectacle. The brigwent very near the coast; on some sheltered rocks rare heaths wereto be seen, the pink flowers lifting their heads timidly out of thesnows, and some meagre lichens of a reddish colour and the shootsof a dwarf willow. 

At last, on the 19th of June, at the famous seventy-third parallel, they doubled Cape Minto, which forms one of the extremities of OmmaneyBay; the brig entered Melville Bay, surnamed by Bolton Money Bay;the merry sailors joked about the name, and made Dr. Clawbonny laughheartily. Notwithstanding a strong breeze from the northeast, the_Forward_ made considerable progress, and on the 23rd of June shepassed the 74th degree of latitude. She was in the midst of MelvilleBay, one of the most considerable seas in these regions. This seawas crossed for the first time by Captain Parry in his great expeditionof 1819, and it was then that his crew earned the prize of 5, 000 poundspromised by Act of Parliament. Clifton remarked that there were twodegrees from the 72nd to the 74th; that already placed 125 poundsto his credit. But they told him that a fortune was not worth muchthere, and that it was of no use being rich if he could not drinkhis riches, and he had better wait till he could roll under a Liverpooltable before he rejoiced and rubbed his hands. 

CHAPTER XIX

A WHALE IN SIGHT

Melville Bay, though easily navigable, was not free from ice;ice-fields lay as far as the utmost limits of the horizon; a fewicebergs appeared here and there, but they were immovable, as ifanchored in the midst of the frozen fields. The _Forward_, with allsteam on, followed the wide passes where it was easy to work her. The wind changed frequently from one point of the compass to another. The variability of the wind in the Arctic Seas is a remarkable fact;sometimes a dead calm is followed in a few minutes by a violent tempest, as the _Forward_ found to her cost on the 23rd of June in the midstof the immense bay. The more constant winds blow from off the ice-bankon to the open sea, and are intensely cold. On that day the thermometerfell several degrees; the wind veered round to the south, and violentgusts, sweeping over the ice-fields, brought a thick snow along withthem. Hatteras immediately caused the sails that helped the screwto be furled, but not quickly enough to prevent his little foresailbeing carried away in the twinkling of an eye. Hatteras worked hisship with the greatest composure, and did not leave the deck duringthe tempest; he was obliged to fly before the weather and to turnwestward. The wind raised up enormous waves, in the midst of whichblocks of ice balanced themselves; these blocks were of all sizesand shapes, and had been struck off the surrounding ice-fields; thebrig was tossed about like a child's plaything, and morsels of thepacks were thrown over her hull; at one instant she was lyingperpendicularly along the side of a liquid mountain; her steel prowconcentrated the light, and shone like a melting metal bar; at anothershe was down an abyss, plunging her head into whirlwinds of snow, whilst her screws, out of the water, turned in space with a sinisternoise, striking the air with their paddles. Rain mixed with the snowand fell in torrents. 

The doctor could not miss such an occasion of getting wet to the skin;he remained on deck, a prey to that emotional admiration which ascientific man must necessarily feel during such a spectacle. Hisnearest neighbour could not have heard him speak, so he said nothingand watched; but whilst watching he was witness to an odd phenomenon, peculiar to hyperborean regions. The tempest was confined to arestricted area, and only extended for about three or four miles;the wind that passes over ice-fields loses much of its strength andcannot carry its violence far out; the doctor perceived from timeto time, through an opening in the tempest, a calm sky and a quietsea beyond some ice-fields. The _Forward_ would therefore only haveto take advantage of some channels left by the ice to find a peacefulnavigation again, but she ran the risk of being thrown on to one ofthe moving banks which followed the movement of the swell. However, in a few hours Hatteras succeeded in getting his ship into a calmsea, whilst the violence of the hurricane spent itself at a few cables'length from the _Forward_. Melville Bay no longer presented the sameaspect; under the influence of the winds and the waves a great numberof icebergs, detached from the coast, floated northward, runningagainst one another in every direction. There were several hundredsof them, but the bay is very wide, and the brig easily avoided them. The spectacle of these floating masses was magnificent; they seemedto be having a grand race for it on the open sea. The doctor was gettingquite excited with watching them, when the harpooner, Simpson, cameup and made him look at the changing tints in the sea; they variedfrom a deep blue to olive green; long stripes stretched north andsouth in such decided lines that the eye could follow each shade outof sight. Sometimes a transparent sheet of water would follow aperfectly opaque sheet. 

"Well, Mr. Clawbonny, what do you think of that?" said Simpson. 

"I am of the same opinion as the whaler Scoresby on the nature ofthe different coloured waters; blue water has no animalculae, andgreen water is full of them. Scoresby has made several experimentson this subject, and I think he is right. "

"Well, sir, I know something else about the colours in the sea, andif I were a whaler I should be precious glad to see them. "

"But I don't see any whales, " answered the doctor. 

"You won't be long before you do, though, I can tell you. A whaleris lucky when he meets with those green stripes under this latitude. "

"Why?" asked the doctor, who always liked to get information fromanybody who understood what they were talking about. 

"Because whales are always found in great quantities in green water. "

"What's the reason of that?"

"Because they find plenty of food in them. "

"Are you sure of that?"

"I've seen it a hundred times, at least, in Baffin Sea; why shouldn'tit be the same in Melville Bay? Besides, look there, Mr. Clawbonny, "added Simpson, leaning over the barricading. 

"Why any one would think it was the wake of a ship!"

"It is an oily substance that the whale leaves behind. The animalcan't be far off!"

The atmosphere was impregnated with a strong oily odour, and thedoctor attentively watched the surface of the water. The predictionof the harpooner was soon accomplished. Foker called out from themasthead--

"A whale alee!"

All looks turned to the direction indicated. A small spout wasperceived coming up out of the sea about a mile from the brig. 

"There she spouts!" cried Simpson, who knew what that meant. 

"She has disappeared!" answered the doctor. 

"Oh, we could find her again easily enough if necessary!" said Simpson, with an accent of regret. To his great astonishment, and althoughno one dared ask for it, Hatteras gave orders to man the whaler. Johnson went aft to the stern, while Simpson, harpoon in hand, stoodin the bow. They could not prevent the doctor joining the expedition. The sea was pretty calm. The whaler soon got off, and in ten minuteswas a mile from the brig. The whale had taken in another provisionof air, and had plunged again; but she soon returned to the surfaceand spouted out that mixture of gas and mucus that escapes from herair-holes. 

"There! There!" said Simpson, pointing to a spot about eight hundredyards from the boat. It was soon alongside the animal, and as theyhad seen her from the brig too, she came nearer, keeping little steamon. The enormous cetacean disappeared and reappeared as the wavesrose and fell, showing its black back like a rock in open sea. Whalesdo not swim quickly unless they are pursued, and this one only rockeditself in the waves. The boat silently approached along the greenwater; its opacity prevented the animal seeing the enemy. It is alwaysan agitating spectacle when a fragile boat attacks one of thesemonsters; this one was about 130 feet long, and it is not rare, betweenthe 72nd and the 80th degree, to meet with whales more than 180 feetlong. Ancient writers have described animals more than 700 feet long, but they drew upon their imagination for their facts. The boat soonneared the whale; on a sign from Simpson the men rested on their oars, and brandishing his harpoon, the experienced sailor threw it withall his strength; it went deep into the thick covering of fat. Thewounded whale struck the sea with its tail and plunged. The four oarswere immediately raised perpendicularly; the cord fastened to theharpoon, and attached to the bow, rolled rapidly out and dragged theboat along, steered cleverly by Johnson. 

The whale got away from the brig and made for the moving icebergs;she kept on for more than half-an-hour; they were obliged to wet thecord fastened to the harpoon to prevent it catching fire by rubbingagainst the boat. When the whale seemed to be going along a littlemore slowly, the cord was pulled in little by little and rolled up;the whale soon reappeared on the surface of the sea, which she beatwith her formidable tail: veritable waterspouts fell in a violentrain on to the boat. It was getting nearer. Simpson had seized a longlance, and was preparing to give close battle to the animal, whenall at once the whale glided into a pass between two mountainousicebergs. The pursuit then became really dangerous. 

"The devil!" said Johnson. 

"Go ahead, " cried Simpson; "we've got her!"

"But we can't follow her into the icebergs!" said Johnson, steeringsteadily. 

"Yes we can!" cried Simpson. 

"No, no!" cried some of the sailors. 

"Yes, yes!" said others. 

During the discussion the whale had got between two floating mountainswhich the swell was bringing close together. The boat was beingdragged into this dangerous part when Johnson rushed to the fore, an axe in his hand, and cut the cord. He was just in time; the twomountains came together with a tremendous crash, crushing theunfortunate animal. 

"The whale's lost!" cried Simpson. 

"But we are saved!" answered Johnson. 

"Well, " said the doctor, who had not moved, "that was worth seeing!"

The crushing force of these ice-mountains is enormous. The whale wasvictim to an accident that often happens in these seas. Scoresbyrelates that in the course of a single summer thirty whales perishedin the same way in Baffin's Sea; he saw a three-master flattened ina minute between two immense walls of ice. Other vessels were splitthrough, as if with a lance, by pointed icicles a hundred feet long, meeting through the planks. A few minutes afterwards the boat hailedthe brig, and was soon in its accustomed place on deck. 

"It is a lesson for those who are imprudent enough to adventure intothe channels amongst the ice!" said Shandon in a loud voice. 

CHAPTER XX

BEECHEY ISLAND

On the 25th of June the _Forward_ arrived in sight of Cape Dundasat the north-western extremity of Prince of Wales's Land. There thedifficulty of navigating amongst the ice grew greater. The sea isnarrower there, and the line made by Crozier, Young, Day, Lowther, and Garret Islands, like a chain of forts before a roadstead, forcedthe ice-streams to accumulate in this strait. The brig took from the25th to the 30th of June to make as much way as she would have donein one day under any other circumstances; she stopped, retraced hersteps, waiting for a favourable occasion so as not to miss BeecheyIsland, using a great deal of coal, as the fires were only moderatedwhen she had to halt, but were never put out, so that she might beunder pressure day and night. Hatteras knew the extent of his coalprovision as well as Shandon, but as he was certain of getting hisprovision renewed at Beechey Island he would not lose a minute forthe sake of economy; he had been much delayed by his forced marchsouthward, and although he had taken the precaution of leaving Englandbefore the month of April, he did not find himself more advanced thanpreceding expeditions had been at the same epoch. On the 30th theysighted Cape Walker at the north-eastern extremity of Prince ofWales's Land; it was the extreme point that Kennedy and Bellotperceived on the 3rd of May, 1852, after an excursion across the wholeof North Somerset. Before that, in 1851, Captain Ommaney, of theAustin expedition, had the good luck to revictual his detachmentsthere. This cape is very high, and remarkable for its reddish-browncolour; from there, when the weather is clear, the view stretchesas far as the entrance to Wellington Channel. Towards evening theysaw Cape Bellot, separated from Cape Walker by McLeon Bay. Cape Bellotwas so named in the presence of the young French officer, for whomthe English expedition gave three cheers. At this spot the coast ismade of yellowish limestone, presenting a very rugged outline; itis defended by enormous icebergs which the north winds pile up therein a most imposing way. It was soon lost to sight by the _Forward_as she opened a passage amongst the ice to get to Beechey Islandthrough Barrow Strait. Hatteras resolved to go straight on, and, soas not to be drifted further than the island, scarcely quitted hispost during the following days; he often went to the masthead to lookout for the most advantageous channels. All that pluck, skill, andgenius could do he did while they were crossing the strait. Fortunedid not favour him, for the sea is generally more open at this epoch. But at last, by dint of sparing neither his steam, his crew, norhimself, he attained his end. 

On the 3rd of July, at 11 o'clock in the morning, the ice-mastersignalled land to the north. After taking an observation Hatterasrecognised Beechey Island, that general meeting-place of Arcticnavigators. Almost all ships that adventure in these seas stop there. Franklin wintered there for the first time before getting intoWellington Strait, and Creswell, with Lieutenant McClure, afterhaving cleared 170 miles on the ice, rejoined the _Phoenix_ andreturned to England. The last ship which anchored at Beechey Islandbefore the _Forward_ was the _Fox_; McClintock revictualled therethe 11th of August, 1858, and repaired the habitations and magazines;only two years had elapsed since then, and Hatteras knew all thesedetails. The boatswain's heart beat with emotion at the sight of thisisland; when he had visited it he was quartermaster on board the_Phoenix_; Hatteras questioned him about the coast line, thefacilities for anchoring, how far they could go inland, &c. ; theweather was magnificent, and the temperature kept at 57 degrees. 

"Well, Johnson, " said the captain, "do you know where you are?"

"Yes, sir, that is Beechey Island; only you must let us get furthernorth--the coast is more easy of access. "

"But where are the habitations and the magazines?" said Hatteras. 

"Oh, you can't see them till you land; they are sheltered behind thoselittle hills you see yonder. "

"And is that where you transported a considerable quantity ofprovisions?"

"Yes, sir; the Admiralty sent us here in 1853, under the command ofCaptain Inglefield, with the steamer _Phoenix_ and a transport ship, the _Breadalbane_, loaded with provisions; we brought enough withus to revictual a whole expedition. "

"But the commander of the _Fox_ took a lot of them in 1858, " saidHatteras. 

"That doesn't matter, sir; there'll be plenty left for you; the coldpreserves them wonderfully, and we shall find them as fresh and inas good a state of preservation as the first day. "

"What I want is coal, " said Hatteras; "I have enough provisions forseveral years. "

"We left more than a thousand tons there, so you can make your mindeasy. "

"Are we getting near?" said Hatteras, who, telescope in hand, waswatching the coast. 

"You see that point?" continued Johnson. "When we have doubled itwe shall be very near where we drop anchor. It was from that placethat we started for England with Lieutenant Creswell and the twelveinvalids from the _Investigator_. We were fortunate enough to bringback McClure's lieutenant, but the officer Bellot, who accompaniedus on board the _Phoenix_, never saw his country again! It is a painfulthing to think about. But, captain, I think we ought to drop anchorhere. "

"Very well, " answered Hatteras, and he gave his orders in consequence. The _Forward_ was in a little bay naturally sheltered on the north, east, and south, and at about a cable's length from the coast. 

"Mr. Wall, " said Hatteras, "have the long boat got ready to transportthe coal on board. I shall land in the pirogue with the doctor andthe boatswain. Will you accompany us, Mr. Shandon?"

"As you please, " answered Shandon. 

A few minutes later the doctor, armed as a sportsman and a _savant_, took his place in the pirogue along with his companions; in ten minutesthey landed on a low and rocky coast. 

"Lead the way, Johnson, " said Hatteras. "You know it, I suppose?"

"Perfectly, sir; only there's a monument here that I did not expectto find!"

"That!" cried the doctor; "I know what it is; let us go up to it;the stone itself will tell us. "

The four men advanced, and the doctor said, after taking off his hat--

"This, my friends, is a monument in memory of Franklin and hiscompanions. "

Lady Franklin had, in 1855, confided a black marble tablet to DoctorKane, and in 1858 she gave a second to McClintock to be raised onBeechey Island. McClintock accomplished this duty religiously, andplaced the stone near a funeral monument erected to the memory ofBellot by Sir John Barrow. 

The tablet bore the following inscription:

 "TO THE MEMORY OF FRANKLIN, CROZIER, FITZ-JAMES, AND ALL THEIR VALIANT BRETHREN OFFICERS AND FAITHFUL COMPANIONSwho suffered for the cause of science and for their country's glory. 

"This stone is erected near the place where they passed their firstArctic winter, and from whence they departed to conquer obstaclesor to die. 

"It perpetuates the regret of their countrymen and friends who admirethem, and the anguish, conquered by Faith, of her who lost in thechief of the expedition the most devoted and most affectionate ofhusbands. 

"It is thus that He led them to the supreme haven where all men taketheir rest. 

 "1855. "

This stone, on a forlorn coast of these far-off regions, appealedmournfully to the heart; the doctor, in presence of these touchingregrets, felt his eyes fill with tears. At the very same place whichFranklin and his companions passed full of energy and hope, thereonly remained a block of marble in remembrance! And notwithstandingthis sombre warning of destiny, the _Forward_ was going to followin the track of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. Hatteras was the firstto rouse himself from the perilous contemplation, and quickly climbeda rather steep hill, almost entirely bare of snow. 

"Captain, " said Johnson, following him, "we shall see the magazinesfrom here. "

Shandon and the doctor joined them on the summit. But from there theeye contemplated the vast plains, on which there remained no vestigeof a habitation. 

"That is singular!" cried the boatswain. 

"Well, and where are the magazines?" said Hatteras quickly. 

"I don't know--I don't see----" stammered Johnson. 

"You have mistaken the way, " said the doctor. 

"It seemed to me that this was the very place, " continued Johnson. 

"Well, " said Hatteras, impatiently "where are we to go now?"

"We had better go down, for I may be mistaken. I may have forgottenthe exact locality in seven years!"

"Especially when the country is so uniformly monotonous!" added thedoctor. 

"And yet----" murmured Johnson. 

Shandon had not spoken a word. After walking for a few minutes, Johnsonstopped. 

"But no, " he cried, "I am not mistaken!"

"Well?" said Hatteras, looking round him. 

"Do you see that swell of the ground?" asked the boatswain, pointingto a sort of mound with three distinct swells on it. 

"What do you conclude from that?" asked the doctor. 

"Those are the three graves of Franklin's sailors. I am sure now thatI am not mistaken; the habitations ought to be about a hundred feetfrom here, and if they are not, they----"

He dared not finish his sentence; Hatteras had rushed forward, a preyto violent despair. There, where the wished-for stores on which hehad counted ought to have been, there ruin, pillage and destructionhad been before him. Who had done it? Animals would only have attackedthe provisions, and there did not remain a single rag from the tent, a piece of wood or iron, and, more terrible still, not a fragmentof coal! It was evident that the Esquimaux had learnt the value ofthese objects from their frequent relations with Europeans; sincethe departure of the _Fox_ they had fetched everything away, and hadnot left a trace even of their passage. A slight coating of snowcovered the ground. Hatteras was confounded. The doctor looked andshook his head. Shandon still said nothing, but an attentive observerwould have noticed his lips curl with a cruel smile. At this momentthe men sent by Lieutenant Wall came up; they soon saw the state ofaffairs. Shandon advanced towards the captain, and said:

"Mr. Hatteras, we need not despair; happily we are near the entranceto Barrow Strait, which will take us back to Baffin's Sea!"

"Mr. Shandon, " answered Hatteras, "happily we are near the entranceto Wellington Strait, and that will take us north!"

"But how shall we get along, captain?"

"With the sails, sir. We have two months' firing left, and that isenough for our wintering. "

"But allow me to tell you----" added Shandon. 

"I will allow you to follow me on board my ship, sir, " answeredHatteras, and turning his back on his second, he returned to the brigand shut himself up in his cabin. For the next two days the wind wascontrary, and the captain did not show up on deck. The doctor profitedby the forced sojourn to go over Beechey Island; he gathered someplants, which the temperature, relatively high, allowed to grow hereand there on the rocks that the snow had left, some heaths, a fewlichens, a sort of yellow ranunculus, a sort of plant something likesorrel, with wider leaves and more veins, and some pretty vigoroussaxifrages. He found the fauna of this country much richer than theflora; he perceived long flocks of geese and cranes going northward, partridges, eider ducks of a bluish black, sandpipers, a sort ofwading bird of the scolopax class, northern divers, plungers withvery long bodies, numerous ptarmites, a sort of bird very good toeat, dovekies with black bodies, wings spotted with white, feet andbeak red as coral; noisy bands of kittywakes and fat loons with whitebreasts, represented the ornithology of the island. The doctor wasfortunate enough to kill a few grey hares, which had not yet put ontheir white winter fur, and a blue fox which Dick ran down skilfully. Some bears, evidently accustomed to dread the presence of men, wouldnot allow themselves to be got at, and the seals were extremely timid, doubtless for the same reason as their enemies the bears. The classof articulated animals was represented by a single mosquito, whichthe doctor caught to his great delight, though not till it had stunghim. As a conchologist he was less favoured, and only found a sortof mussel and some bivalve shells. 

CHAPTER XXI

THE DEATH OF BELLOT

The temperature during the days of the 3rd and 4th of July kept upto 57 degrees; this was the highest thermometric point observed duringthe campaign. But on Thursday, the 5th, the wind turned to thesouth-east, and was accompanied by violent snow-storms. Thethermometer fell during the preceding night to 23 degrees. Hatterastook no notice of the murmurs of the crew, and gave orders to getunder way. For the last thirteen days, from Cape Dundas, the _Forward_had not been able to gain one more degree north, so the partyrepresented by Clifton was no longer satisfied, but wished likeHatteras to get into Wellington Channel, and worked away with a will. The brig had some difficulty in getting under sail; but Hatterashaving set his mizensail, his topsails, and his gallantsails duringthe night, advanced boldly in the midst of fields of ice which thecurrent was drifting south. The crew were tired out with this windingnavigation, which kept them constantly at work at the sails. Wellington Channel is not very wide; it is bounded by North Devonon the east and Cornwallis Island on the west; this island was longbelieved to be a peninsula. It was Sir John Franklin who first sailedround it in 1846, starting west, and coming back to the same pointto the north of the channel. The exploration of Wellington Channelwas made in 1851 by Captain Penny in the whalers _Lady Franklin_ and_Sophia_; one of his lieutenants, Stewart, reached Cape Beecher inlatitude 76 degrees 20 minutes, and discovered the open sea--thatopen sea which was Hatteras's dream!

"What Stewart found I shall find, " said he to the doctor; "then Ishall be able to set sail to the Pole. "

"But aren't you afraid that your crew----"

"My crew!" said Hatteras severely. Then in a low tone--"Poor fellows!"murmured he, to the great astonishment of the doctor. It was the firstexpression of feeling he had heard the captain deliver. 

"No, " he repeated with energy, "they must follow me! They shall followme!"

However, although the _Forward_ had nothing to fear from the collisionof the ice-streams, which were still pretty far apart, they made verylittle progress northward, for contrary winds often forced them tostop. They passed Capes Spencer and Innis slowly, and on Tuesday, the 10th, cleared 75 degrees to the great delight of Clifton. The_Forward_ was then at the very place where the American ships, the_Rescue_ and the _Advance_, encountered such terrible dangers. Doctor Kane formed part of this expedition; towards the end ofSeptember, 1850, these ships got caught in an ice-bank, and wereforcibly driven into Lancaster Strait. It was Shandon who relatedthis catastrophe to James Wall before some of the brig's crew. 

"The _Advance_ and the _Rescue_, " he said to them, "were so knockedabout by the ice, that they were obliged to leave off fires on board;but that did not prevent the temperature sinking 18 degrees belowzero. During the whole winter the unfortunate crews were keptprisoners in the ice-bank, ready to abandon their ships at any moment;for three weeks they did not even change their clothes. They floatedalong in that dreadful situation for more than a thousand miles, whenat last they were thrown into the middle of Baffin's Sea. "

The effect of this speech upon a crew already badly disposed can bewell imagined. During this conversation Johnson was talking to thedoctor about an event that had taken place in those very quarters;he asked the doctor to tell him when the brig was in latitude 75 degrees30 minutes, and when they passed it he cried:

"Yes, it was just there!" in saying which tears filled his eyes. 

"You mean that Lieutenant Bellot died there?" said the doctor. 

"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny. He was as good and brave a fellow as ever lived!It was upon this very North Devon coast! It was to be, I suppose, but if Captain Pullen had returned on board sooner it would not havehappened. "

"What do you mean, Johnson?"

"Listen to me, Mr. Clawbonny, and you will see on what a slight threadexistence often hangs. You know that Lieutenant Bellot went his firstcampaign in search of Franklin in 1850?"

"Yes, on the _Prince Albert_. "

"Well, when he got back to France he obtained permission to embarkon board the _Phoenix_ under Captain Inglefield; I was a sailor onboard. We came with the _Breadalbane_ to transport provisions toBeechey Island!"

"Those provisions we, unfortunately, did not find. Well?"

"We reached Beechey Island in the beginning of August; on the 10thCaptain Inglefield left the _Phoenix_ to rejoin Captain Pullen, whohad been separated from his ship, the _North Star_, for a month. Whenhe came back he thought of sending his Admiralty despatches to SirEdward Belcher, who was wintering in Wellington Channel. A littlewhile after the departure of our captain, Captain Pullen got backto his ship. Why did he not arrive before the departure of CaptainInglefield? Lieutenant Bellot, fearing that our captain would be longaway, and knowing that the Admiralty despatches ought to be sent atonce, offered to take them himself. He left the command of the twoships to Captain Pullen, and set out on the 12th of August with asledge and an indiarubber boat. He took the boatswain of the _NorthStar_ (Harvey) with him, and three sailors, Madden, David Hook, andme. We supposed that Sir Edward Belcher was to be found in theneighbourhood of Beecher Cape, to the north of the channel; we madefor it with our sledge along the eastern coast. The first day weencamped about three miles from Cape Innis; the next day we stoppedon a block of ice about three miles from Cape Bowden. As land layat about three miles' distance, Lieutenant Bellot resolved to go andencamp there during the night, which was as light as the day; he triedto get to it in his indiarubber canoe; he was twice repulsed by aviolent breeze from the south-east; Harvey and Madden attempted thepassage in their turn, and were more fortunate; they took a cord withthem, and established a communication between the coast and thesledge; three objects were transported by means of the cord, but atthe fourth attempt we felt our block of ice move; Mr. Bellot calledout to his companions to drop the cord, and we were dragged to a greatdistance from the coast. The wind blew from the south-east, and itwas snowing; but we were not in much danger, and the lieutenant mighthave come back as we did. "

Here Johnson stopped an instant to take a glance at the fatal coast, and continued:

"After our companions were lost to sight we tried to shelter ourselvesunder the tent of our sledge, but in vain; then, with our knives, we began to cut out a house in the ice. Mr. Bellot helped us for halfan hour, and talked to us about the danger of our situation. I toldhim I was not afraid. 'By God's help, ' he answered, 'we shall notlose a hair of our heads. ' I asked him what o'clock it was, and heanswered, 'About a quarter-past six. ' It was a quarter-past six inthe morning of Thursday, August 18th. Then Mr. Bellot tied up hisbooks, and said he would go and see how the ice floated; he had onlybeen gone four minutes when I went round the block of ice to lookfor him; I saw his stick on the opposite side of a crevice, aboutfive fathoms wide, where the ice was broken, but I could not see himanywhere. I called out, but no one answered. The wind was blowinggreat guns. I looked all round the block of ice, but found no traceof the poor lieutenant. "

"What do you think had become of him?" said the doctor, much moved. 

"I think that when Mr. Bellot got out of shelter the wind blew himinto the crevice, and, as his greatcoat was buttoned up he could notswim. Oh! Mr. Clawbonny, I never was more grieved in my life! I couldnot believe it! He was a victim to duty, for it was in order to obeyCaptain Pullen's instructions that he tried to get to land. He wasa good fellow, everybody liked him; even the Esquimaux, when theylearnt his fate from Captain Inglefield on his return from Pound Bay, cried while they wept, as I am doing now, 'Poor Bellot! poor Bellot!'"

"But you and your companion, Johnson, " said the doctor, "how did youmanage to reach land?"

"Oh! we stayed twenty-four hours more on the block of ice, withoutfood or firing; but at last we met with an ice-field; we jumped onto it, and with the help of an oar we fastened ourselves to an icebergthat we could guide like a raft, and we got to land, but without ourbrave officer. "

By the time Johnson had finished his story the _Forward_ had passedthe fatal coast, and Johnson lost sight of the place of the painfulcatastrophe. The next day they left Griffin Bay to the starboard, and, two days after, Capes Grinnell and Helpmann; at last, on the14th of July, they doubled Osborn Point, and on the 15th the briganchored in Baring Bay, at the extremity of the channel. Navigationhad not been very difficult; Hatteras met with a sea almost as freeas that of which Belcher profited to go and winter with the _Pioneer_and the _Assistance_ as far north as 77 degrees. It was in 1852 and1853, during his first wintering, for he passed the winter of 1853to 1854 in Baring Bay, where the _Forward_ was now at anchor. Hesuffered so much that he was obliged to leave the _Assistance_ inthe midst of the ice. Shandon told all these details to the alreadydiscontented sailors. Did Hatteras know how he was betrayed by hisfirst officer? It is impossible to say; if he did, he said nothingabout it. 

At the top of Baring Bay there is a narrow channel which putsWellington and Queen's Channel into communication with each other. There the rafts of ice lie closely packed. Hatteras tried, in vain, to clear the passes to the north of Hamilton Island; the wind wascontrary; five precious days were lost in useless efforts. Thetemperature still lowered, and, on the 19th of July, fell to 26degrees; it got higher the following day; but this foretaste of wintermade Hatteras afraid of waiting any longer. The wind seemed to begoing to keep in the west, and to stop the progress of the ship. However, he was in a hurry to gain the point where Stewart had met with theopen sea. On the 19th he resolved to get into the Channel at any price;the wind blew right on the brig, which might, with her screw, havestood against it, had not Hatteras been obliged to economise his fuel;on the other hand, the Channel was too wide to allow the men to haulthe brig along. Hatteras, not considering the men's fatigue, resolvedto have recourse to means often employed by whalers under similarcircumstances. The men took it in turns to row, so as to push thebrig on against the wind. The _Forward_ advanced slowly up the Channel. The men were worn out and murmured loudly. They went on in that mannertill the 23rd of July, when they reached Baring Island in Queen'sChannel. The wind was still against them. The doctor thought thehealth of the men much shaken, and perceived the first symptoms ofscurvy amongst them; he did all he could to prevent the spread ofthe wretched malady, and distributed lime-juice to the men. 

Hatteras saw that he could no longer count upon his crew; reasoningand kindness were ineffectual, so he resolved to employ severity forthe future; he suspected Shandon and Wall, though they dare not speakout openly. Hatteras had the doctor, Johnson, Bell, and Simpson forhim; they were devoted to him body and soul; amongst the undecidedwere Foker, Bolton, Wolsten the gunsmith, and Brunton the firstengineer; and they might turn against the captain at any moment; asto Pen, Gripper, Clifton, and Warren, they were in open revolt; theywished to persuade their comrades to force the captain to return toEngland. Hatteras soon saw that he could not continue to work hisship with such a crew. He remained twenty-four hours at Baring Islandwithout taking a step forward. The weather grew cooler still, forwinter begins to be felt in July in these high latitudes. On the 24ththe thermometer fell to 22 degrees. Young ice formed during the night, and if snow fell it would soon be thick enough to bear the weightof a man. The sea began already to have that dirty colour whichprecedes the formation of the first crystals. Hatteras could notmistake these alarming symptoms; if the channels got blocked up, heshould be obliged to winter there at a great distance from the pointhe had undertaken the voyage in order to reach, without having caughta glimpse of that open sea which his predecessors made out was sonear. He resolved, then, to gain several degrees further north, atwhatever cost; seeing that he could not employ oars without the rowerswere willing, nor sail in a contrary wind, he gave orders to put steamon again. 

CHAPTER XXII

BEGINNING OF REVOLT

At this unexpected command, the surprise was great on board the_Forward_. 

"Light the fires!" exclaimed some. 

"What with?" asked others. 

"When we've only two months' coal in the hold!" said Pen. 

"What shall we warm ourselves with in the winter?" asked Clifton. 

"We shall be obliged to burn the brig down to her water-line, " answeredGripper. 

"And stuff the stove with the masts, " added Warren. Shandon lookedat Wall. The stupefied engineers hesitated to go down to themachine-room. 

"Did you hear me?" cried the captain in an irritated tone. 

Brunton made for the hatchway, but before going down he stopped. 

"Don't go, Brunton!" called out a voice. 

"Who spoke?" cried Hatteras. 

"I did, " said Pen, advancing towards the captain. 

"And what did you say?" asked Hatteras. 

"I say, " answered Pen with an oath--"I say, we've had enough of it, and we won't go any further. You shan't kill us with hunger and workin the winter, and they shan't light the fires!"

"Mr. Shandon, " answered Hatteras calmly, "have that man put in irons!"

"But, captain, " replied Shandon, "what the man says----"

"If you repeat what the man says, " answered Hatteras, "I'll have youshut up in your cabin and guarded! Seize that man! Do you hear?"Johnson, Bell, and Simpson advanced towards the sailor, who was ina terrible passion. 

"The first who touches me----" he said, brandishing a handspike. Hatteras approached him. 

"Pen, " said he tranquilly, "if you move, I shall blow out your brains!"So speaking, he cocked a pistol and aimed it at the sailor. A murmurwas heard. 

"Not a word, men, " said Hatteras, "or that man falls dead!" Johnsonand Bell disarmed Pen, who no longer made any resistance, and placedhim in the hold. 

"Go, Brunton, " said Hatteras. The engineer, followed by Plover andWarren, went down to his post. Hatteras returned to the poop. 

"That Pen is a wretched fellow!" said the doctor. 

"No man has ever been nearer death!" answered the captain, simply. 

The steam was soon got up, the anchors were weighed, and the _Forward_veered away east, cutting the young ice with her steel prow. BetweenBaring Island and Beecher Point there are a considerable quantityof islands in the midst of ice-fields; the streams crowd togetherin the little channels which cut up this part of the sea; they hada tendency to agglomerate under the relatively low temperature;hummocks were formed here and there, and these masses, already morecompact, denser, and closer together, would soon form an impenetrablemass. The _Forward_ made its way with great difficulty amidst thesnowstorms. However, with the mobility that characterises theclimate of these regions, the sun appeared from time to time, thetemperature went up several degrees, obstacles melted as if by magic, and a fine sheet of water lay where icebergs bristled all the passes. The horizon glowed with those magnificent orange shades which restthe eye, tired with the eternal white of the snow. 

On the 26th of July the _Forward_ passed Dundas Island, and veeredafterwards more to the north; but there Hatteras found himselfopposite an ice-bank eight or nine feet high, formed of littleicebergs detached from the coast; he was obliged to turn west. Theuninterrupted cracking of the ice, added to the noise of the steamer, was like sighs or groans. At last the brig found a channel, andadvanced painfully along it; often an enormous iceberg hindered hercourse for hours; the fog hindered the pilot's look-out; as long ashe can see for a mile in front of him, he can easily avoid obstacles;but in the midst of the fog it was often impossible to see a cable'slength, and the swell was very strong. Sometimes the clouds lookedsmooth and white as though they were reflections of the ice-banks;but there were entire days when the yellow rays of the sun could notpierce the tenacious fog. Birds were still very numerous, and theircries were deafening; seals, lying idle on the floating ice, raisedtheir heads, very little frightened, and moved their long necks asthe brig passed. Pieces from the ship's sheathing were often rubbedoff in her contact with the ice. At last, after six days of slownavigation, Point Beecher was sighted to the north on the 1st of August. Hatteras passed the last few hours at his masthead; the open sea thatStewart had perceived on May 30th, 1851, about latitude 76 degrees20 minutes, could not be far off; but as far as the eye could reach, Hatteras saw no indication of it. He came down without saying a word. 

"Do you believe in an open sea?" asked Shandon of the lieutenant. 

"I am beginning not to, " answered Wall. 

"Wasn't I right to say the pretended discovery was purely imagination?But they would not believe me, and even you were against me, Wall. "

"We shall believe in you for the future, Shandon. "

"Yes, " said he, "when it's too late, " and so saying he went back tohis cabin, where he had stopped almost ever since his dispute withthe captain. The wind veered round south towards evening; Hatterasordered the brig to be put under sail and the fires to be put out;the crew had to work very hard for the next few days; they were morethan a week getting to Barrow Point. The _Forward_ had only made thirtymiles in ten days. There the wind turned north again, and the screwwas set to work. Hatteras still hoped to find an open sea beyond the77th parallel, as Sir Edward Belcher had done. Ought he to treat theseaccounts as apocryphal? or had the winter come upon him earlier? Onthe 15th of August Mount Percy raised its peak, covered with eternalsnow, through the mist. The next day the sun set for the first time, ending thus the long series of days with twenty-four hours in them. The men had ended by getting accustomed to the continual daylight, but it had never made any difference to the animals; the Greenlanddogs went to their rest at their accustomed hour, and Dick slept asregularly every evening as though darkness had covered the sky. Still, during the nights which followed the 15th of August, darkness wasnever profound; although the sun set, he still gave sufficient lightby refraction. On the 19th of August, after a pretty good observation, they sighted Cape Franklin on the east coast and Cape Lady Franklinon the west coast; the gratitude of the English people had given thesenames to the two opposite points--probably the last reached byFranklin: the name of the devoted wife, opposite to that of her husband, is a touching emblem of the sympathy which always united them. 

The doctor, by following Johnson's advice, accustomed himself tosupport the low temperature; he almost always stayed on deck bravingthe cold, the wind, and the snow. He got rather thinner, but hisconstitution did not suffer. Besides, he expected to be much worseoff, and joyfully prepared for the approaching winter. 

"Look at those birds, " he said to Johnson one day; "they are emigratingsouth in flocks! They are shrieking out their good-byes!"

"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny, some instinct tells them they must go, and theyset out. "

"There's more than one amongst us who would like to imitate them, I think. "

"They are cowards, Mr. Clawbonny; those animals have no provisionsas we have, and are obliged to seek their food where it is to be found. But sailors, with a good ship under their feet, ought to go to theworld's end. "

"You hope that Hatteras will succeed, then?"

"He certainly will, Mr. Clawbonny. "

"I am of the same opinion as you, Johnson, and if he only wanted onefaithful companion----"

"He'll have two!"

"Yes, Johnson, " answered the doctor, shaking hands with the bravesailor. 

Prince Albert Land, which the _Forward_ was then coasting, bears alsothe name of Grinnell Land, and though Hatteras, from his hatred tothe Yankees, would never call it by its American name, it is the oneit generally goes by. It owes its double appellation to the followingcircumstances: At the same time that Penny, an Englishman, gave itthe name of Prince Albert, Lieutenant Haven, commander of the _Rescue_, called it Grinnell Land in honour of the American merchant who hadfitted out the expedition from New York at his own expense. Whilstthe brig was coasting it, she experienced a series of unheard-ofdifficulties, navigating sometimes under sail, sometimes by steam. On the 18th of August they sighted Britannia Mountain, scarcelyvisible through the mist, and the _Forward_ weighed anchor the nextday in Northumberland Bay. She was hemmed in on all sides. 

CHAPTER XXIII

ATTACKED BY ICEBERGS

Hatteras, after seeing to the anchoring of his ship, re-entered hiscabin and examined his map attentively. He found himself in latitude76 degrees 57 minutes and longitude 99 degrees 20 minutes--that isto say, at only three minutes from the 77th parallel. It was at thisvery spot that Sir Edward Belcher passed his first winter with the_Pioneer_ and the _Assistance_. It was thence that he organised hissledge and boat excursions. He discovered Table Isle, North Cornwall, Victoria Archipelago, and Belcher Channel. He reached the 78thparallel, and saw that the coast was depressed on the south-east. It seemed to go down to Jones's Strait, the entrance to which liesin Baffin's Bay. But to the north-west, on the contrary, says hisreport, an open sea lay as far as the eye could reach. 

Hatteras considered attentively the white part of the map, whichrepresented the Polar basin free from ice. 

"After such testimony as that of Stewart, Penny, and Belcher, I can'thave a doubt about it, " he said to himself. "They saw it with theirown eyes. But if the winter has already frozen it! But no; they madetheir discoveries at intervals of several years. It exists, and Ishall find it! I shall see it. "

Hatteras went on to the poop. An intense fog enveloped the _Forward_;the masthead could scarcely be distinguished from the deck. However, Hatteras called down the ice-master from his crow's nest, and tookhis place. He wished to profit by the shortest clear interval toexamine the north-western horizon. Shandon did not let the occasionslip for saying to the lieutenant:

"Well, Wall, where is the open sea?"

"You were right, Shandon, and we have only six weeks' coal in thehold. "

"Perhaps the doctor will find us some scientific fuel to warm us inthe place of coal, " answered Shandon. "I have heard say you can turnfire to ice; perhaps he'll turn ice to fire. " And he entered his cabin, shrugging his shoulders. The next day was the 20th of August, andthe fog cleared away for several minutes. They saw Hatteras lookeagerly at the horizon, and then come down without speaking; but itwas easy to see that his hopes had again been crushed. The _Forward_weighed anchor, and took up her uncertain march northward. As the_Forward_ began to be weather-worn, the masts were unreeved, for theycould no longer rely on the variable wind, and the sails were nearlyuseless in the winding channels. Large white marks appeared here andthere on the sea like oil spots; they presaged an approaching frost;as soon as the breeze dropped the sea began to freeze immediately;but as soon as the wind got up again, the young ice was broken upand dispersed. Towards evening the thermometer went down to 17degrees. 

When the brig came to a closed-up pass she acted as a battering ram, and ran at full steam against the obstacle, which she sunk. Sometimesthey thought she was stopped for good; but an unexpected movementof the streams opened her a new passage, and she took advantage ofit boldly. When the brig stopped, the steam which escaped from thesafety-pipes was condensed by the cold air and fell in snow on tothe deck. Another impediment came in the way; the ice-blocks sometimesgot entangled in the paddles, and they were so hard that all thestrength of the machine was not sufficient to break them; it was thennecessary to back the engine and send men to clear the screws withtheir handspikes. All this delayed the brig; it lasted thirteen days. The _Forward_ dragged herself painfully along Penny Strait; the crewgrumbled, but obeyed: the men saw now that it was impossible to goback. Keeping north was less dangerous than retreating south. Theywere obliged to think about wintering. The sailors talked togetherabout their present position, and one day they mentioned it to RichardShandon, who, they knew, was on their side. The second officer forgothis duty as an officer, and allowed them to discuss the authorityof the captain before him. 

"You say, then, Mr. Shandon, that we can't go back now?" said Gripper. 

"No, it's too late now, " answered Shandon. 

"Then we must think about wintering, " said another sailor. 

"It's the only thing we can do. They wouldn't believe me. "

"Another time, " said Pen, who had been released, "we shall believeyou. "

"But as I am not the master----" replied Shandon. 

"Who says you mayn't be?" answered Pen. "John Hatteras may go as faras he likes, but we aren't obliged to follow him. "

"You all know what became of the crew that did follow him in his firstcruise to Baffin's Sea?" said Gripper. 

"And the cruise of the _Farewell_ under him that got lost in theSpitzbergen seas!" said Clifton. 

"He was the only man that came back, " continued Gripper. 

"He and his dog, " answered Clifton. 

"We won't die for his pleasure, " added Pen. 

"Nor lose the bounty we've been at so much trouble to earn, " criedClifton. "When we've passed the 78th degree--and we aren't far offit, I know--that will make just the 375 pounds each. "

"But, " answered Gripper, "shan't we lose it if we go back withoutthe captain?"

"Not if we prove that we were obliged to, " answered Clifton. 

"But it's the captain----"

"You never mind, Gripper, " answered Pen; "we'll have a captain anda good one--that Mr. Shandon knows. When one commander goes mad, folkshave done with him, and they take another; don't they, Mr. Shandon?"

Shandon answered evasively that they could reckon upon him, but thatthey must wait to see what turned up. Difficulties were getting thickround Hatteras, but he was as firm, calm, energetic, and confidentas ever. After all, he had done in five months what other navigatorshad taken two or three years to do! He should be obliged to winternow, but there was nothing to frighten brave sailors in that. SirJohn Ross and McClure had passed three successive winters in theArctic regions. What they had done he could do too!

"If I had only been able to get up Smith Strait at the north of Baffin'sSea, I should be at the Pole by now!" he said to the doctor regretfully. 

"Never mind, captain!" answered the doctor, "we shall get at it bythe 99th meridian instead of by the 75th; if all roads lead to Rome, it's more certain still that all meridians lead to the Pole. "

On the 31st of August the thermometer marked 13 degrees. The end ofthe navigable season was approaching; the _Forward_ left ExmouthIsland to the starboard, and three days after passed Table Islandin the middle of Belcher Channel. At an earlier period it would perhapshave been possible to regain Baffin's Sea by this channel, but itwas not to be dreamt of then; this arm of the sea was entirelybarricaded by ice; ice-fields extended as far as the eye could reach, and would do so for eight months longer. Happily they could stillgain a few minutes further north on the condition of breaking up theice with huge clubs and petards. Now the temperature was so low, anywind, even a contrary one, was welcome, for in a calm the sea frozein a single night. The _Forward_ could not winter in her presentsituation, exposed to winds, icebergs, and the drift from the channel;a shelter was the first thing to find; Hatteras hoped to gain thecoast of New Cornwall, and to find above Albert Point a bay of refugesufficiently sheltered. He therefore pursued his course northwardwith perseverance. But on the 8th an impenetrable ice-bank lay infront of him, and the temperature was at 10 degrees. Hatteras didall he could to force a passage, continually risking his ship andgetting out of danger by force of skill. He could be accused ofimprudence, want of reflection, folly, blindness, but he was a goodsailor, and one of the best! The situation of the _Forward_ becamereally dangerous; the sea closed up behind her, and in a few hoursthe ice got so hard that the men could run along it and tow the shipin all security. 

Hatteras found he could not get round the obstacle, so he resolvedto attack it in front; he used his strongest blasting cylinders ofeight to ten pounds of powder; they began by making a hole in thethick of the ice, and filled it with snow, taking care to place thecylinder in a horizontal position, so that a greater portion of theice might be submitted to the explosion; lastly, they lighted thewick, which was protected by a gutta-percha tube. They worked at theblasting, as they could not saw, for the saws stuck immediately inthe ice. Hatteras hoped to pass the next day. But during the nighta violent wind raged, and the sea rose under her crust of ice as ifshaken by some submarine commotion, and the terrified voice of thepilot was heard crying:

"Look out aft!"

Hatteras turned to the direction indicated, and what he saw by thedim twilight was frightful. A high iceberg, driven back north, wasrushing on to the ship with the rapidity of an avalanche. 

"All hands on deck!" cried the captain. 

The rolling mountain was hardly half a mile off; the blocks of icewere driven about like so many huge grains of sand; the tempest ragedwith fury. 

"There, Mr. Clawbonny, " said Johnson to the doctor, "we are insomething like danger now. "

"Yes, " answered the doctor tranquilly, "it looks frightful enough. "

"It's an assault we shall have to repulse, " replied the boatswain. 

"It looks like a troop of antediluvian animals, those that weresupposed to inhabit the Pole. They are trying which shall get herefirst!"

"Well, " added Johnson, "I hope we shan't get one of their spikes intous!"

"It's a siege--let's run to the ramparts!"

And they made haste aft, where the crew, armed with poles, bars ofiron, and handspikes, were getting ready to repulse the formidableenemy. The avalanche came nearer, and got bigger by the addition ofthe blocks of ice which it caught in its passage; Hatteras gave ordersto fire the cannon in the bow to break the threatening line. But itarrived and rushed on to the brig; a great crackling noise was heard, and as it struck on the brig's starboard a part of her barricadingwas broken. Hatteras gave his men orders to keep steady and preparefor the ice. It came along in blocks; some of them weighing severalhundredweight came over the ship's side; the smaller ones, thrownup as high as the topsails, fell in little spikes, breaking the shroudsand cutting the rigging. The ship was boarded by these innumerableenemies, which in a block would have crushed a hundred ships likethe _Forward_. Some of the sailors were badly wounded whilst tryingto keep off the ice, and Bolton had his left shoulder torn open. Thenoise was deafening. Dick barked with rage at this new kind of enemy. The obscurity of the night came to add to the horror of the situation, but did not hide the threatening blocks, their white surface reflectedthe last gleams of light. Hatteras's orders were heard in the midstof the crew's strange struggle with the icebergs. The ship givingway to the tremendous pressure, bent to the larboard, and theextremity of her mainyard leaned like a buttress against the icebergand threatened to break her mast. 

Hatteras saw the danger; it was a terrible moment; the brig threatenedto turn completely over, and the masting might be carried away. Anenormous block, as big as the steamer itself, came up alongside herhull; it rose higher and higher on the waves; it was already abovethe poop; it fell over the _Forward_. All was lost; it was now upright, higher than the gallant yards, and it shook on its foundation. A cryof terror escaped the crew. Everyone fled to starboard. But at thismoment the steamer was lifted completely up, and for a little whileshe seemed to be suspended in the air, and fell again on to theice-blocks; then she rolled over till her planks cracked again. Aftera minute, which appeared a century, she found herself again in hernatural element, having been turned over the ice-bank that blockedher passage by the rising of the sea. 

"She's cleared the ice-bank!" shouted Johnson, who had rushed to thefore of the brig. 

"Thank God!" answered Hatteras. 

The brig was now in the midst of a pond of ice, which hemmed her inon every side, and though her keel was in the water, she could notmove; she was immovable, but the ice-field moved for her. 

"We are drifting, captain!" cried Johnson. 

"We must drift, " answered Hatteras; "we can't help ourselves. "

When daylight came, it was seen that the brig was drifting rapidlynorthward, along with a submarine current. The floating mass carriedthe _Forward_ along with it. In case of accident, when the brig mightbe thrown on her side, or crushed by the pressure of the ice, Hatterashad a quantity of provisions brought up on deck, along with materialsfor encamping, the clothes and blankets of the crew. Taking examplefrom Captain McClure under similar circumstances, he caused the brigto be surrounded by a belt of hammocks, filled with air, so as toshield her from the thick of the damage; the ice soon accumulatedunder a temperature of 7 degrees, and the ship was surrounded by awall of ice, above which her masts only were to be seen. They navigatedthus for seven days; Point Albert, the western extremity of NewCornwall, was sighted on the 10th of September, but soon disappeared;from thence the ice-field drifted east. Where would it take them to?Where should they stop? Who could tell? The crew waited, and the menfolded their arms. At last, on the 15th of September, about threeo'clock in the afternoon, the ice-field, stopped, probably, bycollision with another field, gave a violent shake to the brig, andstood still. Hatteras found himself out of sight of land in latitude78 degrees 15 minutes and longitude 95 degrees 35 minutes in the midstof the unknown sea, where geographers have placed the Frozen Pole. 

CHAPTER XXIV

PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING

The southern hemisphere is colder in parallel latitudes than thenorthern hemisphere; but the temperature of the new continent is still15 degrees below that of the other parts of the world; and in Americathe countries known under the name of the Frozen Pole are the mostformidable. The average temperature of the year is 2 degrees belowzero. Scientific men, and Dr. Clawbonny amongst them, explain thefact in the following way. According to them, the prevailing windsof the northern regions of America blow from the south-west; theycome from the Pacific Ocean with an equal and bearable temperature;but in order to reach the Arctic Seas they have to cross the immenseAmerican territory, covered with snow, they get cold by contact withit, and then cover the hyperborean regions with their frigid violence. Hatteras found himself at the Frozen Pole beyond the countries seenby his predecessors; he, therefore, expected a terrible winter ona ship lost in the midst of the ice with a crew nearly in revolt. He resolved to face these dangers with his accustomed energy. He beganby taking, with the help of Johnson's experience, all the measuresnecessary for wintering. According to his calculations he had beendragged two hundred and fifty miles beyond New Cornwall, the lastcountry discovered; he was clasped in an ice-field as securely asin a bed of granite, and no power on earth could extricate him. 

There no longer existed a drop of water in the vast seas over whichthe Arctic winter reigned. Ice-fields extended as far as the eye couldreach, bristling with icebergs, and the _Forward_ was sheltered bythree of the highest on three points of the compass; the south-eastwind alone could reach her. If instead of icebergs there had beenrocks, verdure instead of snow, and the sea in its liquid state again, the brig would have been safely anchored in a pretty bay shelteredfrom the worst winds. But in such a latitude it was a miserable stateof things. They were obliged to fasten the brig by means of her anchors, notwithstanding her immovability; they were obliged to prepare forthe submarine currents and the breaking up of the ice. When Johnsonheard where they were, he took the greatest precautions in gettingeverything ready for wintering. 

"It's the captain's usual luck, " said he to the doctor; "we've gotnipped in the most disagreeable point of the whole glove! Never mind;we'll get out of it!"

As to the doctor, he was delighted at the situation. He would nothave changed it for any other! A winter at the Frozen Pole seemedto him desirable. The crew were set to work at the sails, which werenot taken down, and put into the hold, as the first people who winteredin these regions had thought prudent; they were folded up in theircases, and the ice soon made them an impervious envelope. The crow'snest, too, remained in its place, serving as a nautical observatory;the rigging alone was taken away. It became necessary to cut awaythe part of the field that surrounded the brig, which began to sufferfrom the pressure. It was a long and painful work. In a few days thekeel was cleared, and on examination was found to have suffered little, thanks to the solidity of its construction, only its copper platingwas almost all torn off. When the ship was once liberated she roseat least nine inches; the crew then bevelled the ice in the shapeof the keel, and the field formed again under the brig, and offeredsufficient opposition to pressure from without. The doctor helpedin all this work; he used the ice-knife skilfully; he incited thesailors by his happy disposition. He instructed himself and others, and was delighted to find the ice under the ship. 

"It's a very good precaution!" said he. 

"We couldn't do without it, Mr. Clawbonny, " said Johnson. "Now wecan raise a snow-wall as high as the gunwale, and if we like we canmake it ten feet thick, for we've plenty of materials. "

"That's an excellent idea, " answered the doctor. "Snow is a badconductor of heat; it reflects it instead of absorbing it, and theheat of the interior does not escape. "

"That's true, " said Johnson. "We shall raise a fortification againstthe cold, and against animals too, if they take it into their headsto pay us a visit; when the work is done it will answer, I can tellyou. We shall make two flights of steps in the snow, one from theship and the other from outside; when once we've cut out the stepswe shall pour water over them, and it will make them as hard as rock. We shall have a royal staircase. "

"It's a good thing that cold makes ice and snow, and so gives us themeans of protecting ourselves against it. I don't know what we shoulddo if it did not. "

A roofing of tarred cloth was spread over the deck and descended tothe sides of the brig. It was thus sheltered from all outsideimpression, and made a capital promenade; it was covered with twofeet and a-half of snow, which was beaten down till it became veryhard, and above that they put a layer of sand, completely macadamisingit. 

"With a few trees I should imagine myself in Hyde Park, " said thedoctor, "or in one of the hanging gardens of Babylon. "

They made a hole at a short distance from the brig; it was round, like a well; they broke the ice every morning. This well was usefulin case of fire or for the frequent baths ordered to keep the crewin health. In order to spare their fuel, they drew the water froma greater depth by means of an apparatus invented by a Frenchman, Francois Arago. Generally, when a ship is wintering, all the objectswhich encumber her are placed in magazines on the coast, but it wasimpossible to do this in the midst of an ice-field. Every precautionwas taken against cold and damp; men have been known to resist thecold and succumb to damp; therefore both had to be guarded against. The _Forward_ had been built expressly for these regions, and thecommon room was wisely arranged. They had made war on the corners, where damp takes refuge at first. If it had been quite circular itwould have done better, but warmed by a vast stove and well ventilated, it was very comfortable; the walls were lined with buckskins and notwith woollen materials, for wool condenses the vapours andimpregnates the atmosphere with damp. The partitions were taken downin the poop, and the officers had a large comfortable room, warmedby a stove. Both this room and that of the crew had a sort of antechamber, which prevented all direct communication with the exterior, andprevented the heat going out; it also made the crew pass more graduallyfrom one temperature to another. They left their snow-coveredgarments in these antechambers, and scraped their feet on scrapersput there on purpose to prevent any unhealthy element getting in. 

Canvas hose let in the air necessary to make the stoves draw; otherhose served for escape-pipes for the steam. Two condensers were fixedin the two rooms; they gathered the vapour instead of letting it escape, and were emptied twice a week; sometimes they contained severalbushels of ice. By means of the air-pipes the fires could be easilyregulated, and it was found that very little fuel was necessary tokeep up a temperature of 50 degrees in the rooms. But Hatteras sawwith grief that he had only enough coal left for two months' firing. A drying-room was prepared for the garments that were obliged to bewashed, as they could not be hung in the air or they would have beenfrozen and spoiled. The delicate parts of the machine were taken topieces carefully, and the room where they were placed was closed uphermetically. The rules for life on board were drawn up by Hatterasand hung up in the common room. The men got up at six in the morning, and their hammocks were exposed to the air three times a week; thefloors of the two rooms were rubbed with warm sand every morning;boiling tea was served out at every meal, and the food varied as muchas possible, according to the different days of the week; it consistedof bread, flour, beef suet and raisins for puddings, sugar, cocoa, tea, rice, lemon-juice, preserved meat, salted beef and pork, pickledcabbage and other vegetables; the kitchen was outside the common rooms, and the men were thus deprived of its heat, but cooking is a constantsource of evaporation and humidity. 

The health of men depends a great deal on the food they eat; underthese high latitudes it is of great importance to consume as muchanimal food as possible. The doctor presided at the drawing up ofthe bill of fare. 

"We must take example from the Esquimaux, " said he; "they havereceived their lessons from nature, and are our teachers here;although Arabians and Africans can live on a few dates and a handfulof rice, it is very different here, where we must eat a great dealand often. The Esquimaux absorb as much as ten and fifteen poundsof oil in a day. If you do not like oil, you must have recourse tothings rich in sugar and fat. In a word, you want carbon in the stoveinside you as much as the stove there wants coal. "

Every man was forced to take a bath in the half-frozen water condensedfrom the fire. The doctor set the example; he did it at first as wedo all disagreeable things that we feel obliged to do, but he soonbegan to take extreme pleasure in it. When the men had to go out eitherto hunt or work they had to take great care not to get frost-bitten;and if by accident it happened, they made haste to rub the partattacked with snow to bring back the circulation of the blood. Besidesbeing carefully clothed in wool from head to foot, the men wore hoodsof buckskin and sealskin trousers, through which it is impossiblefor the wind to penetrate. All these preparations took about threeweeks, and the 10th of October came round without anything remarkablehappening. 

CHAPTER XXV

AN OLD FOX

That day the thermometer went down to 3 degrees below zero. The weatherwas pretty calm, and the cold without breeze was bearable. Hatterasprofited by the clearness of the atmosphere to reconnoitre thesurrounding plains; he climbed one of the highest icebergs to thenorth, and could see nothing, as far as his telescope would let him, but ice-fields and icebergs. No land anywhere, but the image of chaosin its saddest aspect. He came back on board trying to calculate theprobable duration of his captivity. The hunters, and amongst themthe doctor, James Wall, Simpson, Johnson, and Bell, did not fail tosupply the ship with fresh meat. Birds had disappeared; they weregone to less rigorous southern climates. The ptarmigans, a sort ofpartridge, alone stay the winter in these latitudes; they are easilykilled, and their great number promised an abundant supply of game. There were plenty of hares, foxes, wolves, ermine, and bears; therewere enough for any sportsman, English, French, or Norwegian; butthey were difficult to get at, and difficult to distinguish on thewhite plains from the whiteness of their fur; when the intense coldcomes their fur changes colour, and white is their winter colour. The doctor found that this change of fur is not caused by the changeof temperature, for it takes place in the month of October, and issimply a precaution of Providence to guard them from the rigour ofa boreal winter. 

Seals were abundant in all their varieties, and were particularlysought after by the hunters for the sake, not only of their skins, but their fat, which is very warming; besides which, the liver ofthese animals makes excellent fuel: hundreds of them were to be seen, and two or three miles to the north of the brig the ice was literallyperforated all over with the holes these enormous amphibians make;only they smelt the hunters from afar, and many were wounded thatescaped by plunging under the ice. However, on the 19th, Simpsonmanaged to catch one at about a hundred yards from the ship; he hadtaken the precaution to block up its hole of refuge so that it wasat the mercy of the hunters. It took several bullets to kill the animal, which measured nine feet in length; its bulldog head, the sixteenteeth in its jaws, its large pectoral fins in the shape of pinions, and its little tail, furnished with another pair of fins, made ita good specimen of the family of dog-hound fish. The doctor, wishingto preserve the head for his natural history collection, and its skinfor his future use, had them prepared by a rapid and inexpensiveprocess. He plunged the body of the animal into the hole in the ice, and thousands of little prawns soon ate off all the flesh; in halfa day the work was accomplished, and the most skilful of the honourablecorporation of Liverpool tanners could not have succeeded better. 

As soon as the sun had passed the autumnal equinox--that is to say, on the 23rd of September--winter may be said to begin in the Arcticregions. The sun disappears entirely on the 23rd of October, lightingup with its oblique rays the summits of the frozen mountains. Thedoctor wished him a traveller's farewell; he was not going to seehim again till February. But obscurity is not complete during thislong absence of the sun; the moon comes each month to take its placeas well as she can; starlight is very bright, and there is besidesfrequent aurora borealis, and a refraction peculiar to the snowyhorizons; besides, the sun at the very moment of his greatest australdeclination, the 21st of December, is still only 13 degrees from thePolar horizon, so that there is twilight for a few hours; only fogs, mists, and snowstorms often plunge these regions into completeobscurity. However, at this epoch the weather was pretty favourable;the partridges and the hares were the only animals that had a rightto complain, for the sportsmen did not give them a moment's peace;they set several fox-traps, but the suspicious animals did not letthemselves be caught so easily; they would often come and eat thesnare by scratching out the snow from under the trap; the doctor wishedthem at the devil, as he could not get them himself. On the 25th ofOctober the thermometer marked more than 4 degrees below zero. Aviolent tempest set in; the air was thick with snow, which preventeda ray of light reaching the _Forward_. During several hours they werevery uneasy about Bell and Simpson, who had gone too far whilsthunting; they did not reach the ship till the next day, after havinglain for a whole day in their buckskins, whilst the tempest sweptthe air about them, and buried them under five feet of snow. Theywere nearly frozen, and the doctor had some trouble to restore theircirculation. 

The tempest lasted a week without interruption. It was impossibleto stir out. In a single day the temperature varied fifteen and twentydegrees. During their forced idleness each one lived to himself; someslept, others smoked, or talked in whispers, stopping when they sawthe doctor or Johnson approach; there was no moral union between themen; they only met for evening prayers, and on Sunday for Divineservice. Clifton had counted that once the 78th parallel cleared, his share in the bounty would amount to 375 pounds; he thought thatenough, and his ambition did not go beyond. The others were of thesame opinion, and only thought of enjoying the fortune acquired atsuch a price. Hatteras was hardly ever seen. He neither took partin the hunting nor other excursions. He felt no interest in themeteorological phenomena which excited the doctor's admiration. Helived for one idea; it was comprehended in three words--the NorthPole. He was constantly looking forward to the moment when the_Forward_, once more free, would begin her adventurous voyage again. 

In short, it was a melancholy life; the brig, made for movement, seemedquite out of place as a stationary dwelling; her original form couldnot be distinguished amidst the ice and snow that covered her, andshe was anything but a lively spectacle. During these unoccupied hoursthe doctor put his travelling notes in order--the notes from whichthis history is taken; he was never idle, and the evenness of hishumour remained the same, only he was very glad to see the tempestclearing off so as to allow him to set off hunting once more. On the3rd of November, at six in the morning, with a temperature at 5 degreesbelow zero, he started, accompanied by Johnson and Bell; the plainsof ice were level; the snow, which covered the ground thickly, solidified by the frost, made the ground good for walking; a dry andkeen cold lightened the atmosphere; the moon shone in all hersplendour, and threw an astonishing light on all the asperities ofthe field; their footsteps left marks on the snow, and the moon lightedup their edges, so that they looked like a luminous track behind thehunters whose shadows fell on the ice with astonishing outlines. 

The doctor had taken his friend Dick with him; he preferred him tothe Greenland dogs to run down the game for a good reason; the latterdo not seem to have the scent of their brethren of more temperateclimates. Dick ran on and often pointed out the track of a bear, butin spite of his skill the hunters had not even killed a hare aftertwo hours' walking. 

"Do you think the game has gone south too?" asked the doctor, haltingat the foot of a hummock. 

"It looks like it, Mr. Clawbonny, " answered the carpenter. 

"I don't think so, " answered Johnson; "hares, foxes, and bears areaccustomed to the climate; I believe the late tempest is the causeof their disappearance; but with the south winds they'll soon comeback. Ah! if you said reindeers or musk-oxen it would be a differentthing. "

"But it appears those, too, are found in troops in Melville Island, "replied the doctor; "that is much further south, I grant you; whenParry wintered there he always had as much game as he wanted. "

"We are not so well off, " said Bell; "if we could only get plentyof bear's flesh I should not complain. "

"Bears are very difficult to get at, " answered the doctor; "it seemsto me they want civilising. "

"Bell talks about the bear's flesh, but we want its fat more thanits flesh or its skin, " said Johnson. 

"You are right, Johnson; you are always thinking about the fuel. "

"How can I help thinking about it? I know if we are ever so carefulof it we've only enough left for three weeks. "

"Yes, " replied the doctor, "that is our greatest danger, for we areonly at the beginning of November, and February is the coldest monthof the year in the Frozen Zone; however, if we can't get bear's greasewe can rely on that of the seals. "

"Not for long, Mr. Clawbonny, " answered Johnson. "They'll soon desertus too; either through cold or fright, they'll soon leave off comingon to the surface of the ice. "

"Then we must get at the bears, " said the doctor; "they are the mostuseful animals in these countries: they furnish food, clothes, light, and fuel. Do you hear, Dick?" continued he, caressing his friend;"we must have a bear, so look out. "

Dick, who was smelling the ice as the doctor spoke, started off allat once, quick as an arrow. He barked loudly, and, notwithstandinghis distance, the sportsmen heard him distinctly. The extremedistance to which sound is carried in these low temperatures isastonishing; it is only equalled by the brilliancy of theconstellations in the boreal sky. 

The sportsmen, guided by Dick's barking, rushed on his traces; theyhad to run about a mile, and arrived quite out of breath, for thelungs are rapidly suffocated in such an atmosphere. Dick was pointingat about fifty paces from an enormous mass at the top of a mound ofice. 

"We've got him, " said the doctor, taking aim. 

"And a fine one, " added Bell, imitating the doctor. 

"It's a queer bear, " said Johnson, waiting to fire after his twocompanions. 

Dick barked furiously. Bell advanced to within twenty feet and fired, but the animal did not seem to be touched. Johnson advanced in histurn, and after taking a careful aim, pulled the trigger. 

"What, " cried the doctor, "not touched yet? Why, it's that cursedrefraction. The bear is at least a thousand paces off. "

The three sportsmen ran rapidly towards the animal, whom the firinghad not disturbed; he seemed to be enormous, and without calculatingthe dangers of the attack, they began to rejoice in their conquest. Arrived within reasonable distance they fired again; the bear, mortally wounded, gave a great jump and fell at the foot of the mound. Dick threw himself upon it. 

"That bear wasn't difficult to kill, " said the doctor. 

"Only three shots, " added Bell in a tone of disdain, "and he's down. "

"It's very singular, " said Johnson. 

"Unless we arrived at the very moment when it was dying of old age, "said the doctor, laughing. 

So speaking, the sportsmen reached the foot of the mound, and, totheir great stupefaction, they found Dick with his fangs in the bodyof a white fox. 

"Well, I never!" cried Bell. 

"We kill a bear and a fox falls, " added the doctor. 

Johnson did not know what to say. 

"Why!" said the doctor, with a roar of laughter, "it's the refractionagain!"

"What do you mean, Mr. Clawbonny?" asked the carpenter. 

"Why, it deceived us about the size as it did about the distance. It made us see a bear in a fox's skin. "

"Well, " answered Johnson, "now we've got him, we'll eat him. "

Johnson was going to lift the fox on to his shoulders, when he criedlike Bell--"Well, I never!"

"What is it?" asked the doctor. 

"Look, Mr. Clawbonny--look what the animal's got on its neck; it'sa collar, sure enough. "

"A collar?" echoed the doctor, leaning over the animal. A halfworn-out collar encircled the fox's neck, and the doctor thought hesaw something engraved on it; he took it off and examined it. 

"That bear is more than twelve years old, my friends, " said the doctor;"it's one of James Ross's foxes, and the collar has been round itsneck ever since 1848. "

"Is it possible?" cried Bell. 

"There isn't a doubt about it, and I'm sorry we've shot the poor animal. During his wintering James Ross took a lot of white foxes in his traps, and had brass collars put round their necks on which were engravedthe whereabouts of his ships, the _Enterprise_ and the _Investigator_, and the store magazines. He hoped one of them might fall into thehands of some of the men belonging to Franklin's expedition. The pooranimal might have saved the lives of the ship's crews, and it hasfallen under our balls. "

"Well, we won't eat him, " said Johnson, "especially as he's twelveyears old. Anyway, we'll keep his skin for curiosity sake. " So sayinghe lifted the animal on his shoulders, and they made their way tothe ship, guided by the stars; still their expedition was not quitefruitless: they bagged several brace of ptarmigans. An hour beforethey reached the _Forward_, a phenomenon occurred which excited theastonishment of the doctor; it was a very rain of shooting stars;they could be counted by thousands, like rockets in a display offireworks. They paled the light of the moon, and the admirablespectacle lasted several hours. A like meteor was observed atGreenland by the Moravian brothers in 1799. The doctor passed thewhole night watching it, till it ceased, at seven in the morning, amidst the profound silence of the atmosphere. 

CHAPTER XXVI

THE LAST LUMP OF COAL

It seemed certain that no bears were to be had; several seals werekilled during the days of the 4th, 5th, and 6th of November; thenthe wind changed, and the thermometer went up several degrees; butthe snow-drifts began again with great violence. It became impossibleto leave the vessel, and the greatest precaution was needed to keepout the damp. At the end of the week there were several bushels ofice in the condensers. The weather changed again on the 15th ofNovember, and the thermometer, under the influence of certainatmospherical conditions, went down to 24 degrees below zero. It wasthe lowest temperature observed up till then. This cold would havebeen bearable in a quiet atmosphere, but there was a strong wind whichseemed to fill the atmosphere with sharp blades. The doctor was vexedat being kept prisoner, for the ground was covered with snow, madehard by the wind, and was easy to walk upon; he wanted to attemptsome long excursion. 

It is very difficult to work when it is so cold, because of theshortness of breath it causes. A man can only do a quarter of hisaccustomed work; iron implements become impossible to touch; if oneis taken up without precaution, it causes a pain as bad as a burn, and pieces of skin are left on it. The crew, confined to the ship, were obliged to walk for two hours on the covered deck, where theywere allowed to smoke, which was not allowed in the common room. There, directly the fire got low, the ice invaded the walls and the joinsin the flooring; every bolt, nail, or metal plate became immediatelycovered with a layer of ice. The doctor was amazed at the instantaneityof the phenomenon. The breath of the men condensed in the air, andpassing quickly from a fluid to a solid state, fell round them insnow. At a few feet only from the stoves the cold was intense, andthe men stood near the fire in a compact group. The doctor advisedthem to accustom their skin to the temperature, which would certainlyget worse, and he himself set the example; but most of them were tooidle or too benumbed to follow his advice, and preferred remainingin the unhealthy heat. However, according to the doctor, there wasno danger in the abrupt changes of temperature in going from the warmroom into the cold. It is only dangerous for people in perspiration;but the doctor's lessons were thrown away on the greater part of thecrew. 

As to Hatteras, he did not seem to feel the influence of thetemperature. He walked silently about at his ordinary pace. Had thecold no empire over his strong constitution, or did he possess ina supreme degree the natural heat he wished his sailors to have? Washe so armed in his one idea as to be insensible to exteriorimpressions? His men were profoundly astonished at seeing him facingthe 24 degrees below zero; he left the ship for hours, and came backwithout his face betraying the slightest mark of cold. 

"He is a strange man, " said the doctor to Johnson; "he even astonishesme. He is one of the most powerful natures I have ever studied inmy life. "

"The fact is, " answered Johnson, "that he comes and goes in the openair without clothing himself more warmly than in the month of June. "

"Oh! the question of clothes is not of much consequence, " repliedthe doctor; "it is of no use clothing people who do not produce heatnaturally. It is the same as if we tried to warm a piece of ice bywrapping it up in a blanket! Hatteras does not want that; he isconstituted so, and I should not be surprised if being by his sidewere as good as being beside a stove. "

Johnson had the job of clearing the water-hole the next day, andremarked that the ice was more than ten feet thick. The doctor couldobserve magnificent aurora borealis almost every night; from fourtill eight p. M. The sky became slightly coloured in the north; thenthis colouring took the regular form of a pale yellow border, whoseextremities seemed to buttress on to the ice-field. Little by littlethe brilliant zone rose in the sky, following the magnetic meridian, and appeared striated with blackish bands; jets of some luminousmatter, augmenting and diminishing, shot out lengthways; the meteor, arrived at its zenith, was often composed of several bows, bathedin floods of red, yellow, or green light. It was a dazzling spectacle. Soon the different curves all joined in one point, and formed borealcrowns of a heavenly richness. At last the bows joined, the splendidaurora faded, the intense rays melted into pale, vague, undeterminedshades, and the marvellous phenomenon, feeble, and almostextinguished, fainted insensibly into the dark southern clouds. Nothing can equal the wonders of such a spectacle under the highlatitudes less than eight degrees from the Pole; the aurora borealisperceived in temperate regions gives no idea of them--not even afeeble one; it seems as if Providence wished to reserve its mostastonishing marvels for these climates. 

During the duration of the moon several images of her are seen inthe sky, increasing her brilliancy; often simple lunar halos surroundher, and she shines from the centre of her luminous circle with asplendid intensity. 

On the 26th of November there was a high tide, and the water escapedwith violence from the water-hole; the thick layer of ice was shakenby the rising of the sea, and sinister crackings announced thesubmarine struggle; happily the ship kept firm in her bed, and herchains only were disturbed. Hatteras had had them fastened inanticipation of the event. The following days were still colder; therewas a penetrating fog, and the wind scattered the piled-up snow; itbecame difficult to see whether the whirlwinds began in the air oron the ice-fields; confusion reigned. 

The crew were occupied in different works on board, the principalof which consisted in preparing the grease and oil produced by theseals; they had become blocks of ice, which had to be broken withaxes into little bits, and ten barrels were thus preserved. 

All sorts of vessels were useless, and the liquid they contained wouldonly have broken them when the temperature changed. On the 28th thethermometer went down to 32 degrees below zero; there was only coalenough left for ten days, and everyone looked forward to itsdisappearance with dread. Hatteras had the poop stove put out foreconomy's sake, and from that time Shandon, the doctor, and he stayedin the common room. Hatteras was thus brought into closer contactwith the men, who threw ferocious and stupefied looks at him. He heardtheir reproaches, their recriminations, and even their threats, andhe could not punish them. But he seemed to be deaf to everything. He did not claim the place nearest the fire, but stopped in a corner, his arms folded, never speaking. 

In spite of the doctor's recommendations, Pen and his friends refusedto take the least exercise; they passed whole days leaning againstthe stove or lying under the blankets of their hammocks. Their healthsoon began to suffer; they could not bear up against the fatalinfluence of the climate, and the terrible scurvy made its appearanceon board. The doctor had, however, begun, some time ago, to distributelimejuice and lime pastilles every morning; but these preservatives, generally so efficacious, had very little effect on the malady, whichsoon presented the most horrible symptoms. The sight of the poorfellows, whose nerves and muscles contracted with pain, was pitiable. Their legs swelled in an extraordinary fashion, and were covered withlarge blackish blue spots; their bloody gums and ulcerated lips onlygave passage to inarticulate sounds; the vitiated blood no longerwent to the extremities. 

Clifton was the first attacked; then Gripper, Brunton, and Strongtook to their hammocks. Those that the malady still spared could notlose sight of their sufferings; they were obliged to stay there, andit was soon transformed into a hospital, for out of eighteen sailorsof the _Forward_, thirteen were attacked in a few days. Pen seemeddestined to escape contagion; his vigorous nature preserved him fromit. Shandon felt the first symptoms, but they did not go further, and exercise kept the two in pretty good health. 

The doctor nursed the invalids with the greatest care, and it madehim miserable to see the sufferings he could not alleviate. He didall he could to keep his companions in good spirits; he talked tothem, read to them, and told them tales, which his astonishing memorymade it easy for him to do. He was often interrupted by the complaintsand groans of the invalids, and he stopped his talk to become oncemore the attentive and devoted doctor. His health kept up well; hedid not get thinner, and he used to say that it was a good thing forhim that he was dressed like a seal or a whale, who, thanks to itsthick layer of fat, easily supports the Arctic atmosphere. Hatterasfelt nothing, either physically or morally. Even the sufferings ofhis crew did not seem to touch him. Perhaps it was because he wouldnot let his face betray his emotions; but an attentive observer wouldhave remarked that a man's heart beat beneath the iron envelope. Thedoctor analysed him, studied him, but did not succeed in classifyingso strange an organisation, a temperament so supernatural. Thethermometer lowered again; the walk on deck was deserted; theEsquimaux dogs alone frequented it, howling lamentably. 

There was always one man on guard near the stove to keep up the fire;it was important not to let it go out. As soon as the fire got lower, the cold glided into the room; ice covered the walls, and the humidity, rapidly condensed, fell in snow on the unfortunate inhabitants ofthe brig. It was in the midst of these unutterable tortures that the8th of December was reached. That morning the doctor went as usualto consult the exterior thermometer. He found the mercury completelyfrozen. 

"Forty-four degrees below zero!" he cried with terror. And that daythey threw the last lump of coal into the stove. 

CHAPTER XXVII

CHRISTMAS

There was then a movement of despair. The thought of death, and deathfrom cold, appeared in all its horror; the last piece of coal burntaway as quickly as the rest, and the temperature of the room loweredsensibly. But Johnson went to fetch some lumps of the new fuel whichthe marine animals had furnished him with, and he stuffed it intothe stove; he added some oakum, impregnated with frozen oil, and soonobtained enough heat. The smell of the grease was abominable, buthow could they get rid of it? They were obliged to get used to it. Johnson agreed that his expedient left much to wish for, and wouldhave no success in a Liverpool house. 

"However, " added he, "the smell may have one good result. "

"What's that?" asked the carpenter. 

"It will attract the bears; they are very fond of the stink. "

"And what do we want with bears?" added Bell. 

"You know, Bell, we can't depend on the seals; they've disappearedfor a good while to come; if the bears don't come to be turned intofuel too, I don't know what will become of us. "

"There would be only one thing left; but I don't see how----"

"The captain would never consent; but perhaps we shall be obliged. "

Johnson shook his head sadly, and fell into a silent reverie, whichBell did not interrupt. He knew that their stock of grease would notlast more than a week with the strictest economy. 

The boatswain was not mistaken. Several bears, attracted by the fetidexhalations, were signalled to the windward; the healthy men gavechase to them, but they are extraordinarily quick, and did not allowthemselves to be approached, and the most skilful shots could nottouch them. The ship's crew was seriously menaced with death fromcold; it was impossible to resist such a temperature more thanforty-eight hours, and every one feared the end of the fuel. Thedreaded moment arrived at three o'clock p. M. On the 20th of December. The fire went out; the sailors looked at each other with haggard eyes. Hatteras remained immovable in his corner. The doctor as usual marchedup and down in agitation; he was at his wits' end. The temperatureof the room fell suddenly to 7 degrees below zero. But if the doctordid not know what to do, some of the others did. Shandon, calm andresolute, and Pen with anger in his eyes, and two or three of theircomrades, who could still walk, went up to Hatteras. 

"Captain!" said Shandon. 

Hatteras, absorbed in thought, did not hear him. 

"Captain!" repeated Shandon, touching his hand. 

Hatteras drew himself up. 

"What is it?" he said. 

"Our fire is out!"

"What then?" answered Hatteras. 

"If you mean to kill us with cold, you had better say so, " said Shandonironically. 

"I mean, " said Hatteras gravely, "to require every man to do his dutyto the end. "

"There's something higher than duty, captain--there's the right toone's own preservation. I repeat that the fire is out, and if it isnot relighted, not one of us will be alive in two days. "

"I have no fuel, " answered Hatteras, with a hollow voice. 

"Very well, " cried Pen violently, "if you have no fuel, we must takeit where we can!"

Hatteras grew pale with anger. 

"Where?" said he. 

"On board, " answered the sailor insolently. 

"On board!" echoed the captain, his fists closed, his eyes sparkling. 

He had seized an axe, and he now raised it over Pen's head. 

"Wretch!" he cried. 

The doctor rushed between the captain and Pen; the axe fell to theground, its sharp edge sinking into the flooring. Johnson, Bell, andSimpson were grouped round Hatteras, and appeared determined to givehim their support. But lamentable and plaintive voices came from thebeds. 

"Some fire! Give us some fire!" cried the poor fellows. 

Hatteras made an effort, and said calmly:

"If we destroy the brig, how shall we get back to England?"

"We might burn some of the rigging and the gunwale, sir, " said Johnson. 

"Besides, we should still have the boats left, " answered Shandon;"and we could build a smaller vessel with the remains of the old one!"

"Never!" answered Hatteras. 

"But----" began several sailors, raising their voices. 

"We have a great quantity of spirits of wine, " answered Hatteras;"burn that to the last drop. "

"Ah, we didn't think of that!" said Johnson, with affectedcheerfulness, and by the help of large wicks steeped in spirits hesucceeded in raising the temperature a few degrees. 

During the days that followed this melancholy scene the wind wentround to the south, and the thermometer went up. Some of the men couldleave the vessel during the least damp part of the day; but ophthalmiaand scurvy kept the greater number on board; besides, neither fishingnor hunting was practicable. But it was only a short respite fromthe dreadful cold, and on the 25th, after an unexpected change inthe wind, the mercury again froze; they were then obliged to haverecourse to the spirits of wine thermometer, which never freezes. The doctor found, to his horror, that it marked 66 degrees below zero;men had never been able to support such a temperature. The ice spreaditself in long tarnished mirrors on the floor; a thick fog invadedthe common room; the damp fell in thick snow; they could no longersee one another; the extremities became blue as the heat of the bodyleft them; a circle of iron seemed to be clasping their heads, andmade them nearly delirious. A still more fearful symptom was thattheir tongues could no longer articulate a word. 

From the day they had threatened to burn his ship, Hatteras pacedthe deck for hours. He was guarding his treasures; the wood of theship was his own flesh, and whoever cut a piece off cut off one ofhis limbs. He was armed, and mounted guard, insensible to the cold, the snow, and the ice, which stiffened his garments and envelopedhim in granite armour. His faithful Dick accompanied him, and seemedto understand why he was there. 

However, on Christmas Day he went down to the common room. The doctor, taking advantage of what energy he had left, went straight to him, and said--

"Hatteras, we shall all die if we get no fuel. "

"Never!" said Hatteras, knowing what was coming. 

"We must, " said the doctor gently. 

"Never!" repeated Hatteras with more emphasis still. "I will neverconsent! They can disobey me if they like!"

Johnson and Bell took advantage of the half-permission, and rushedon deck. Hatteras heard the wood crack under the axe. He wept. Whata Christmas Day for Englishmen was that on board the _Forward_! Thethought of the great difference between their position and that ofthe happy English families who rejoiced in their roast beef, plumpudding, and mince pies added another pang to the miseries of theunfortunate crew. However, the fire put a little hope and confidenceinto the men; the boiling of coffee and tea did them good, and thenext week passed less miserably, ending the dreadful year 1860; itsearly winter had defeated all Hatteras's plans. 

On the 1st of January, 1861, the doctor made a discovery. It was notquite so cold, and he had resumed his interrupted studies; he wasreading Sir Edward Belcher's account of his expedition to the PolarSeas; all at once a passage struck him; he read it again and again. It was where Sir Edward Belcher relates that after reaching theextremity of Queen's Channel he had discovered important traces ofthe passage and residence of men. "They were, " said he, "very superiorhabitations to those which might be attributed to the wanderingEsquimaux. The walls had foundations, the floors of the interior hadbeen covered with a thick layer of fine gravel, and were paved. Reindeer, seal, and walrus bones were seen in great quantities. _Wefound some coal. _" At the last words the doctor was struck with anidea; he carried the book to Hatteras and showed him the passage. 

"They could not have found coal on this deserted coast, " saidHatteras; "it is not possible!"

"Why should we doubt what Belcher says? He would not have recordedsuch a fact unless he had been certain and had seen it with his owneyes. "

"And what then, doctor?"

"We aren't a hundred miles from the coast where Belcher saw the coal, and what is a hundred miles' excursion? Nothing. Longer ones thanthat have often been made across the ice. "

"We will go, " said Hatteras. 

Johnson was immediately told of their resolution, of which he stronglyapproved; he told his companions about it: some were glad, othersindifferent. 

"Coal on these coasts!" said Wall, stretched on his bed of pain. 

"Let them go, " answered Shandon mysteriously. 

But before Hatteras began his preparations for the journey, he wishedto be exactly certain of the _Forward's_ position. He was obligedto be mathematically accurate as to her whereabouts, because offinding her again. His task was very difficult; he went upon deckand took at different moments several lunar distances and the meridianheights of the principal stars. These observations were hard to make, for the glass and mirrors of the instrument were covered with icefrom Hatteras's breath; he burnt his eyelashes more than once bytouching the brass of the glasses. However, he obtained exact basesfor his calculations, and came down to make them in the room. Whenhis work was over, he raised his head in astonishment, took his map, pricked it, and looked at the doctor. 

"What is it?" asked the latter. 

"In what latitude were we at the beginning of our wintering?"

"We were in latitude 78 degrees 15 minutes, by longitude 95 degrees35 minutes; exactly at the Frozen Pole. "

"Well, " said Hatteras, in a low tone, "our ice-field has beendrifting! We are two degrees farther north and farther west, and threehundred miles at least from your store of coal!"

"And those poor fellows don't know, " said the doctor. 

"Hush!" said Hatteras, putting his finger on his lips. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE

Hatteras would not inform his crew of their situation, for if theyhad known that they had been dragged farther north they would verylikely have given themselves up to the madness of despair. The captainhad hidden his own emotions at his discovery. It was his first happymoment during the long months passed in struggling with the elements. He was a hundred and fifty miles farther north, scarcely eight degreesfrom the Pole! But he hid his delight so profoundly that even thedoctor did not suspect it; he wondered at seeing an unwontedbrilliancy in the captain's eyes; but that was all, and he never oncethought of the reason. 

The _Forward_, by getting nearer the Pole, had got farther away fromthe coal repository observed by Sir Edward Belcher; instead of onehundred, it lay at two hundred and fifty miles farther south. However, after a short discussion about it between Hatteras and Clawbonny, the journey was persisted in. If Belcher had written the truth--andthere was no reason for doubting his veracity--they should find thingsexactly in the same state as he had left them, for no new expeditionhad gone to these extreme continents since 1853. There were few orno Esquimaux to be met with in that latitude. They could not bedisappointed on the coast of New Cornwall as they had been on BeecheyIsland. The low temperature preserves the objects abandoned to itsinfluence for any length of time. All probabilities were thereforein favour of this excursion across the ice. It was calculated thatthe expedition would take, at the most, forty days, and Johnson'spreparations were made in consequence. 

The sledge was his first care; it was in the Greenland style, thirty-five inches wide and twenty-four feet long. The Esquimauxoften make them more than fifty feet long. This one was made of longplanks, bent up front and back, and kept bent like a bow by two thickcords; the form thus given to it gave it increased resistance toshocks; it ran easily on the ice, but when the snow was soft on theground it was put upon a frame; to make it glide more easily it wasrubbed, Esquimaux fashion, with sulphur and snow. Six dogs drew it;notwithstanding their leanness these animals did not appear to sufferfrom the cold; their buckskin harness was in good condition, and theycould draw a weight of two thousand pounds without fatigue. Thematerials for encampment consisted of a tent, should the constructionof a snow-house be impossible, a large piece of mackintosh to spreadover the snow, to prevent it melting in contact with the human body, and lastly, several blankets and buffalo-skins. They took the halkettboat too. 

The provisions consisted of five cases of pemmican, weighing aboutfour hundred and fifty pounds; they counted one pound of pemmicanfor each man and each dog; there were seven dogs including Dick, andfour men. They also took twelve gallons of spirits of wine--that isto say, about one hundred fifty pounds weight--a sufficient quantityof tea and biscuit, a portable kitchen with plenty of wicks, oakum, powder, ammunition, and two double-barrelled guns. They also usedCaptain Parry's invention of indiarubber belts, in which the warmthof the body and the movement of walking keeps coffee, tea, and waterin a liquid state. Johnson was very careful about the snow-shoes;they are a sort of wooden patten, fastened on with leather straps;when the ground was quite hard and frozen they could be replaced bybuckskin moccasins; each traveller had two pairs of both. 

These preparations were important, for any detail omitted mightoccasion the loss of an expedition; they took four whole days. Eachday at noon Hatteras took care to set the position of his ship; theyhad ceased to drift; he was obliged to be certain in order to getback. He next set about choosing the men he should take with him;some of them were not fit either to take or leave, but the captaindecided to take none but sure companions, as the common safetydepended upon the success of the excursion. Shandon was, therefore, excluded, which he did not seem to regret. James Wall was ill in bed. The state of the sick got no worse, however, and as the only thingto do for them was to rub them with lime-juice, and give them dosesof it, the doctor was not obliged to stop, and he made one of thetravellers. Johnson very much wished to accompany the captain in hisperilous enterprise, but Hatteras took him aside, and said, in anaffectionate tone:

"Johnson, I have confidence in you alone. You are the only officerin whose hands I can leave my ship. I must know that you are thereto overlook Shandon and the others. They are kept prisoners here bythe winter, but I believe them capable of anything. You will befurnished with my formal instructions, which, in case of need, willgive you the command. You will take my place entirely. Our absencewill last four or five weeks at the most. I shall not be anxious, knowing you are where I cannot be. You must have wood, Johnson, Iknow, but, as far as possible, spare my poor ship. Do you understandme, Johnson?"

"Yes, sir, " answered the old sailor, "I'll stop if you wish. "

"Thank you, " said Hatteras, shaking his boatswain's hand; "and ifwe don't come back, wait for the next breaking-up time, and try topush forward towards the Pole. But if the others won't go, don't mindus, and take the _Forward_ back to England. "

"Are those your last commands, captain?"

"Yes, my express commands, " answered Hatteras. 

"Very well, sir, they shall be carried out, " said Johnson simply. 

The doctor regretted his friend, but he thought Hatteras had actedwisely in leaving him. Their other two travelling companions wereBell the carpenter and Simpson. The former was in good health, braveand devoted, and was the right man to render service during theencampments on the snow; Simpson was not so sure, but he accepteda share in the expedition, and his hunting and fishing capabilitiesmight be of the greatest use. The expedition consisted, therefore, of four men, Hatteras, Clawbonny, Bell, and Simpson, and seven dogs. The provisions had been calculated in consequence. During the firstdays of January the temperature kept at an average of 33 degrees belowzero. Hatteras was very anxious for the weather to change; he oftenconsulted the barometer, but it is of little use in such high latitudes. A clear sky in these regions does not always bring cold, and the snowdoes not make the temperature rise; the barometer is uncertain; itgoes down with the north and east winds; low, it brought fine weather;high, snow or rain. Its indications could not, therefore, be reliedupon. 

At last, on January 5th, the mercury rose to 18 degrees below zero, and Hatteras resolved to start the next day; he could not bear tosee his ship burnt piece by piece before his eyes; all the poop hadgone into the stove. On the 6th, then, in the midst of whirlwindsof snow, the order for departure was given. The doctor gave his lastorders about the sick; Bell and Simpson shook hands silently withtheir companions. Hatteras wished to say his good-byes aloud, buthe saw himself surrounded by evil looks and thought he saw Shandonsmile ironically. He was silent, and perhaps hesitated for an instantabout leaving the _Forward_, but it was too late to turn back; theloaded sledge, with the dogs harnessed to it, awaited him on theice-field. Bell started the first; the others followed. 

Johnson accompanied the travellers for a quarter of a mile, thenHatteras begged him to return on board, and the old sailor went backafter making a long farewell gesture. At that moment Hatteras turneda last look towards the brig, and saw the extremity of her mastsdisappear in the dark clouds of the sky. 

CHAPTER XXIX

ACROSS THE ICE

The little troop descended towards the south-east. Simpson drove thesledge. Dick helped him with zeal, and did not seem astonished atthe new occupation of his companions. Hatteras and the doctor walkedbehind, whilst Bell went on in front, sounding the ice with hisiron-tipped stick. The rising of the thermometer indicatedapproaching snow; it soon fell in thick flakes, and made the journeydifficult for the travellers; it made them deviate from the straightline, and obliged them to walk slower; but, on an average, they madethree miles an hour. The surface of the ice was unequal, and the sledgewas often in danger of being overturned, but by great care it waskept upright. 

Hatteras and his companions were clothed in skins more useful thanelegant. Their heads and faces were covered with hoods, their mouths, eyes, and noses alone coming into contact with the air. If they hadnot been exposed the breath would have frozen their coverings, andthey would have been obliged to take them off with the help of anaxe--an awkward way of undressing. The interminable plain kept onwith fatiguing monotony; icebergs of uniform aspect and hummockswhose irregularity ended by seeming always the same; blocks cast inthe same mould, and icebergs between which tortuous valleys wound. The travellers spoke little, and marched on, compass in hand. It ispainful to open one's mouth in such an atmosphere; sharp icicles formimmediately between one's lips, and the breath is not warm enoughto melt them. Bell's steps were marked in the soft ground, and theyfollowed them attentively, certain of being able to go where he hadbeen before. 

Numerous traces of bears and foxes crossed their path, but not ananimal was seen that day. It would have been dangerous and uselessto hunt them, as the sledge was sufficiently freighted. Generallyin this sort of excursion travellers leave provision-stores alongtheir route; they place them in hiding-places of snow, out of reachof animals; unload during the journey, and take up the provisionson their return. But Hatteras could not venture to do this on moveableice-fields, and the uncertainty of the route made the return the sameway exceedingly problematic. At noon Hatteras caused his little troopto halt under shelter of an ice-wall. Their breakfast consisted ofpemmican and boiling tea; the latter beverage comforted the coldwayfarers. They set out again after an hour's rest. The first daythey walked about twenty miles, and in the evening both men and dogswere exhausted. However, notwithstanding their fatigue, they wereobliged to construct a snow-house in which to pass the night. It tookabout an hour and a half to build. Bell showed himself very skilful. The ice-blocks were cut out and placed above one another in the formof a dome; a large block at the top made the vault. Snow served formortar and filled up the chinks. It soon hardened and made a singleblock of the entire structure. It was reached by a narrow opening, through which the doctor squeezed himself painfully, and the othersfollowed him. The supper was rapidly prepared with spirits of wine. The interior temperature of the snow-house was bearable, as the windwhich raged outside could not penetrate. When their repast, whichwas always the same, was over, they began to think of sleep. Amackintosh was spread over the floor and kept them from the damp. Their stockings and shoes were dried by the portable grate, and thenthree of the travellers wrapped themselves up in their blankets, leaving the fourth to keep watch; he watched over the common safety, and prevented the opening getting blocked up, for if it did they wouldbe buried alive. 

Dick shared the snow-house; the other dogs remained outside, and aftertheir supper they squatted down in the snow, which made them a blanket. The men were tired out with their day's walk, and soon slept. Thedoctor took his turn on guard at three o'clock in the morning. Therewas a tempest during the night, the gusts of which thickened the wallsof the snow-house. The next day, at six o'clock, they set out againon their monotonous march. The temperature lowered several degrees, and hardened the ground so that walking was easier. They often metwith mounds or cairns something like the Esquimaux hiding-places. The doctor had one demolished, and found nothing but a block of ice. 

"What did you expect, Clawbonny?" said Hatteras. "Are we not the firstmen who have set foot here?"

"It's very likely we are, but who knows?" answered the doctor. 

"I do not want to lose my time in useless search, " continued thecaptain; "I want to be quick back to my ship, even if we don't findthe fuel. "

"I believe we are certain of doing that, " said the doctor. 

"I often wish I had not left the _Forward_, " said Hatteras; "acaptain's place is on board. "

"Johnson is there. "

"Yes; but--well, we must make haste, that's all. "

The procession marched along rapidly; Simpson excited the dogs bycalling to them; in consequence of a phosphorescent phenomenon theyseemed to be running on a ground in flames, and the sledges seemedto raise a dust of sparks. The doctor went on in front to examinethe state of the snow, but all at once he disappeared. Bell, who wasnearest to him, ran up. 

"Well, Mr. Clawbonny, " he called out in anxiety, "where are you?"

"Doctor!" called the captain. 

"Here, in a hole, " answered a reassuring voice; "throw me a cord, and I shall soon be on the surface of the globe again. "

They threw a cord to the doctor, who was at the bottom of a hole aboutten feet deep; he fastened it round his waist, and his companionshauled him up with difficulty. 

"Are you hurt?" asked Hatteras. 

"Not a bit, " answered the doctor, shaking his kind face, all coveredwith snow. 

"But how did you tumble down there?"

"Oh, it was the refraction's fault, " he answered laughing. "I thoughtI was stepping across about a foot's distance, and I fell into a holeten feet deep! I never shall get used to it. It will teach us to soundevery step before we advance. Ears hear and eyes see all topsy-turvyin this enchanted spot. "

"Can you go on?" asked the captain. 

"Oh, yes; the little fall has done me more good than harm. "

In the evening the travellers had marched twenty-five miles; theywere worn out, but it did not prevent the doctor climbing up an icebergwhile the snow-house was being built. The full moon shone withextraordinary brilliancy in the clearest sky; the stars weresingularly bright; from the top of the iceberg the view stretchedover an immense plain, bristling with icebergs; they were of all sizesand shapes, and made the field look like a vast cemetery, in whichtwenty generations slept the sleep of death. Notwithstanding the cold, the doctor remained a long time in contemplation of the spectacle, and his companions had much trouble to get him away; but they wereobliged to think of rest; the snow-hut was ready; the four companionsburrowed into it like moles, and soon slept the sleep of the just. 

The next day and the following ones passed without any particularincident; the journey was easy or difficult according to the weather;when it was cold and clear they wore their moccasins and advancedrapidly, when damp and penetrating, their snow-shoes, and made littleway. They reached thus the 15th of January; the moon was in her lastquarter, and was only visible for a short time; the sun, though stillhidden below the horizon, gave six hours of a sort of twilight, notsufficient to see the way by; they were obliged to stake it outaccording to the direction given by the compass. Bell led the way;Hatteras marched in a straight line behind him; then Simpson and thedoctor, taking it in turns, so as only to see Hatteras, and keep ina straight line. But notwithstanding all their precautions, theydeviated sometimes thirty or forty degrees; they were then obligedto stake it out again. On Sunday, the 15th of January, Hatterasconsidered he had made a hundred miles to the south; the morning wasconsecrated to the mending of different articles of clothing andencampment; divine service was not forgotten. They set out again atnoon; the temperature was cold, the thermometer marked only 32 degreesbelow zero in a very clear atmosphere. 

All at once, without warning of any kind, a vapour rose from the groundin a complete state of congelation, reaching a height of about ninetyfeet, and remaining stationary; they could not see a foot before them;it clung to their clothing, and bristled it with ice. Our travellers, surprised by the frost-rime, had all the same idea--that of gettingnear one another. They called out, "Bell!" "Simpson!" "This way, doctor!" "Where are you, captain?" But no answers were heard; thevapour did not conduct sound. They all fired as a sign of rallying. But if the sound of the voice appeared too weak, the detonation ofthe firearms was too strong, for it was echoed in all directions, and produced a confused rumble without appreciable direction. Eachacted then according to his instincts. Hatteras stopped, folded hisarms, and waited. Simpson contented himself with stopping his sledge. Bell retraced his steps, feeling the traces with his hands. The doctorran hither and thither, bumping against the icebergs, falling down, getting up, and losing himself more and more. At the end of fiveminutes he said:

"I can't go on like this! What a queer climate! It changes too suddenly, and the icicles are cutting my face. Captain! I say, captain!"

But he obtained no answer; he discharged his gun, and notwithstandinghis thick gloves, burnt his hand with the trigger. During thisoperation he thought he saw a confused mass moving at a few stepsfrom him. 

"At last!" said he. "Hatteras! Bell! Simpson! Is it you? Answer, do!"

A hollow growl was the only answer. 

"Whatever is that?" thought the doctor. The mass approached, and itsoutline was more distinctly seen. "Why, it's a bear!" thought theterrified doctor. It was a bear, lost too in the frost-rime, passingwithin a few steps of the men of whose existence it was ignorant. The doctor saw its enormous paws beating the air, and did not likethe situation. He jumped back and the mass disappeared like a phantom. The doctor felt the ground rising under his feet; climbing onall-fours he got to the top of a block, then another, feeling theend with his stick. "It's an iceberg!" he said to himself: "if I getto the top I shall be saved. " So saying he climbed to a height ofabout eighty feet; his head was higher than the frozen fog, of whichhe could clearly see the top. As he looked round he saw the headsof his three companions emerging from the dense fluid. 

"Hatteras!"

"Doctor!"

"Bell!"

"Simpson!"

The four names were all shouted at the same time; the sky, lightenedby a magnificent halo, threw pale rays which coloured the frost-rimelike clouds, and the summits of the icebergs seemed to emerge fromliquid silver. The travellers found themselves circumscribed by acircle less than a hundred feet in diameter. Thanks to the purityof the upper layers of air, they could hear each other distinctly, and could talk from the top of their icebergs. After the first shotsthey had all thought the best thing they could do was to climb. 

"The sledge!" cried the captain. 

"It's eighty feet below us, " answered Simpson. 

"In what condition?"

"In good condition. "

"What about the bear?" asked the doctor. 

"What bear?" asked Bell. 

"The bear that nearly broke my head, " answered the doctor. 

"If there is a bear we must go down, " said Hatteras. 

"If we do we shall get lost again, " said the doctor. 

"And our dogs?" said Hatteras. 

At this moment Dick's bark was heard through the fog. 

"That's Dick, " said Hatteras; "there's something up; I shall go down. "

Growls and barks were heard in a fearful chorus. In the fog it soundedlike an immense humming in a wadded room. Some struggle was evidentlygoing on. 

"Dick! Dick!" cried the captain, re-entering the frost-rime. 

"Wait a minute, Hatteras; I believe the fog is clearing off, " calledout the doctor. So it was, but lowering like the waters of a pondthat is being emptied; it seemed to enter the ground from whence itsprang; the shining summits of the icebergs grew above it; others, submerged till then, came out like new islands; by an optical illusionthe travellers seemed to be mounting with their icebergs above thefog. Soon the top of the sledge appeared, then the dogs, then aboutthirty other animals, then enormous moving masses, and Dick jumpingabout in and out of the fog. 

"Foxes!" cried Bell. 

"Bears!" shouted the doctor. "Five!"

"Our dogs! Our provisions!" cried Simpson. A band of foxes and bearshad attacked the sledge, and were making havoc with the provisions. The instinct of pillage made them agree; the dogs barked furiously, but the herd took no notice, and the scene of destruction waslamentable. 

"Fire!" cried the captain, discharging his gun. His companionsimitated him. Upon hearing the quadruple detonation the bears raisedtheir heads, and with a comical growl gave the signal for departure;they went faster than a horse could gallop, and, followed by the herdof foxes, soon disappeared amongst the northern icebergs. 

CHAPTER XXX

THE CAIRN

The frost-rime had lasted about three-quarters of an hour; quite longenough for the bears and foxes to make away with a considerablequantity of provisions which they attacked all the more greedily, arriving, as they did, when the animals were perishing with hungerfrom the long winter. They had torn open the covering of the sledgewith their enormous paws; the cases of pemmican were open, andhalf-empty; the biscuit-bags pillaged, the provisions of tea spiltover the snow, a barrel of spirits of wine broken up, and its preciouscontents run out; the camping materials lying all about. The wildanimals had done their work. 

"The devils have done for us!" said Bell. 

"What shall we do now?" said Simpson. 

"Let us first see how much we've lost, " said the doctor; "we can talkafter. "

Hatteras said nothing, but began picking up the scattered objects. They picked up all the pemmican and biscuit that was still eatable. The loss of so much spirits of wine was deplorable, as without itit was impossible to get any hot drinks--no tea nor coffee. 

The doctor made an inventory of the provisions that were left, andfound that the animals had eaten two hundred pounds of pemmican anda hundred and fifty pounds of biscuit; if the travellers continuedtheir journey they would be obliged to put themselves on half-rations. They deliberated about what was to be done under the circumstances. Should they return to the brig and begin their expedition again? Buthow could they resolve to lose the hundred and fifty miles alreadycleared? and coming back without the fuel, how would they be receivedby the crew? and which of them would begin the excursion again? Itwas evident that the best thing to do was to go on, even at the priceof the worst privations. The doctor, Hatteras, and Bell were for goingon, but Simpson wanted to go back; his health had severely sufferedfrom the fatigues of the journey, and he grew visibly weaker; butat last, seeing he was alone in his opinion, he took his place atthe head of the sledge, and the little caravan continued its route. During the three following days, from the 15th to the 17th of January, the monotonous incidents of the journey took place again. They wenton more slowly; the travellers were soon tired; their legs ached withfatigue, and the dogs drew with difficulty. Their insufficient foodtold upon them. The weather changed with its usual quickness, goingsuddenly from intense cold to damp and penetrating fogs. 

On the 18th of January the aspect of the ice-field changed all atonce. A great number of peaks, like pyramids, ending in a sharp pointat a great elevation, showed themselves on the horizon. The soil incertain places was seen through the layer of snow; it seemed to consistof schist and quartz, with some appearance of calcareous rock. Atlast the travellers had reached _terra firma_, and, according to theirestimation, the continent must be New Cornwall. The doctor wasdelighted to tread on solid ground once more; the travellers had onlya hundred more miles to go before reaching Belcher Cape; but thetrouble of walking increased on this rocky soil, full of inequalities, crevices, and precipices; they were obliged to plunge into theinterior of the land and climb the high cliffs on the coast, acrossnarrow gorges, in which the snow was piled up to a height of thirtyor forty feet. The travellers soon had cause to regret the levelsthey had left, on which the sledge rolled so easily. Now they wereobliged to drag it with all their strength. The dogs were worn out, and had to be helped; the men harnessed themselves along with them, and wore themselves out too. They were often obliged to unload theprovisions in order to get over a steep hill, whose frozen surfacegave no hold. Some passages ten feet long took hours to clear. Duringthe first day they only made about five miles on that land, so wellnamed Cornwall. The next day the sledge attained the upper part ofthe cliffs; the travellers were too exhausted to construct theirsnow-house, and were obliged to pass the night under the tent, enveloped in their buffalo-skins, and drying their stockings byplacing them on their chests. The consequences of such a state ofthings may be readily imagined; during the night the thermometer wentdown to 44 degrees below zero, and the mercury froze. 

The health of Simpson became alarming; an obstinate cold, violentrheumatism, and intolerable pain forced him to lie down on the sledge, which he could no longer guide. Bell took his place; he was not well, but was obliged not to give in. The doctor also felt the influenceof his terrible winter excursion, but he did not utter a complaint;he marched on in front, leaning on his stick; he lighted the way;he helped in everything. Hatteras, impassive, impenetrable, insensible, in as good health as the first day, with his ironconstitution, followed the sledge in silence. On the 20th of Januarythe weather was so bad that the least effort caused immediateprostration; but the difficulties of the ground became so great thatHatteras and Bell harnessed themselves along with the dogs; the frontof the sledge was broken by an unexpected shock, and they were forcedto stop and mend it. Such delays occurred several times a day. Thetravellers were journeying along a deep ravine up to their waistsin snow, and perspiring, notwithstanding the violent cold. No onespoke. All at once Bell looked at the doctor in alarm, picked up ahandful of snow, and began to rub his companion's face with all hismight. 

"What the deuce, Bell?" said the doctor, struggling. 

But Bell went on rubbing. 

"Are you mad? You've filled my eyes, nose, and mouth with snow. Whatis it?"

"Why, " answered Bell, "if you've got a nose left, you owe it to me. "

"A nose?" said the doctor, putting his hand to his face. 

"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny, you were quite frostbitten; your nose was quitewhite when I looked at you, and without my bit of rubbing you wouldbe minus nose. "

"Thanks, Bell, " said the doctor; "I'll do the same for you in caseof need. "

"I hope you will, Mr. Clawbonny, and I only wish we had nothing worseto look forward to!"

"You mean Simpson! Poor fellow, he is suffering dreadfully!"

"Do you fear for him?" asked Hatteras quickly. 

"Yes, captain, " answered the doctor. 

"What do you fear?"

"A violent attack of scurvy. His legs swell already, and his gumsare attacked; the poor fellow is lying under his blankets on the sledge, and every shock increases his pain. I pity him, but I can't do anythingfor him!"

"Poor Simpson!" said Bell. 

"Perhaps we had better stop a day or two, " said the doctor. 

"Stop!" cried Hatteras, "when the lives of eighteen men depend uponour return! You know we have only enough provisions left for twentydays. "

Neither the doctor nor Bell could answer that, and the sledge wenton its way. In the evening they stopped at the foot of an ice-hill, out of which Bell soon cut a cavern; the travellers took refuge init, and the doctor passed the night in nursing Simpson; he was a preyto the scurvy, and constant groans issued from his terrified lips. 

"Ah, Mr. Clawbonny, I shall never get over it. I wish I was deadalready. "

"Take courage, my poor fellow!" answered the doctor, with pity inhis tone, and he answered Simpson's complaints by incessant attention. Though half-dead with fatigue, he employed a part of the night inmaking the sick man a soothing draught, and rubbed him with lime-juice. Unfortunately it had little effect, and did not prevent the terriblemalady spreading. The next day they were obliged to lift the poorfellow on to the sledge, although he begged and prayed them to leavehim to die in peace, and begin their painful march again. 

The freezing mists wet the three men to the skin; the snow and sleetbeat in their faces; they did the work of beasts of burden, and hadnot even sufficient food. Dick ran hither and thither, discoveringby instinct the best route to follow. During the morning of the 23rdof January, when it was nearly dark, for the new moon had not yetmade her appearance, Dick ran on first; he was lost to sight forseveral hours. Hatteras became anxious, as there were many bear-markson the ground; he was considering what had better be done, when aloud barking was heard in front. The little procession moved onquicker, and soon came upon the faithful animal in the depth of aravine. Dick was set as if he had been petrified in front of a sortof cairn, made of limestone, and covered with a cement of ice. 

"This time, " said the doctor, disengaging himself from the traces, "it's really a cairn; we can't be mistaken. "

"What does it matter to us?" said Hatteras. 

"Why, if it is a cairn, it may inclose something that would be usefulto us--some provisions perhaps. "

"As if Europeans had ever been here!" said Hatteras, shrugging hisshoulders. 

"But if not Europeans, it may be that the Esquimaux have hidden someproduct of their hunting here. They are accustomed to doing it, Ithink. "

"Well, look if you like, Clawbonny, but I don't think it is worthyour while. "

Clawbonny and Bell, armed with their pickaxes made for the cairn. Dick kept on barking furiously. The cairn was soon demolished, andthe doctor took out a damp paper. Hatteras took the document and read:

"Altam... , _Porpoise_, Dec... 13th, 1860, 12.. Degrees long... 8.. Degrees 35 minutes lat... "

"The _Porpoise_!" said the doctor. 

"I don't know any ship of that name frequenting these seas, " saidHatteras. 

"It is evident, " continued the doctor, "that some sailors, or perhapssome shipwrecked fellows, have passed here within the last twomonths. "

"That's certain, " said Bell. 

"What shall we do?" asked the doctor. 

"Continue our route, " said Hatteras coldly. "I don't know anythingabout the _Porpoise_, but I do know that the _Forward_ is waitingfor our return. "

CHAPTER XXXI

THE DEATH OF SIMPSON

The travellers went on their weary way, each thinking of the discoverythey had just made. Hatteras frowned with uneasiness. 

"What can the _Porpoise_ be?" he asked himself. "Is it a ship? andif so, what was it doing so near the Pole?"

At this thought he shivered, but not from the cold. The doctor andBell only thought of the result their discovery might have for othersor for themselves. But the difficulties and obstacles in their waysoon made them oblivious to everything but their own preservation. 

Simpson's condition grew worse; the doctor saw that death was near. He could do nothing, and was suffering cruelly on his own accountfrom a painful ophthalmia which might bring on blindness if neglected. The twilight gave them enough light to hurt the eyes when reflectedby the snow; it was difficult to guard against the reflection, forthe spectacle-glasses got covered with a layer of opaque ice whichobstructed the view, and when so much care was necessary for thedangers of the route, it was important to see clearly; however, thedoctor and Bell took it in turns to cover their eyes or to guide thesledge. The soil was volcanic, and by its inequalities made it verydifficult to draw the sledge, the frame of which was getting wornout. Another difficulty was the effect of the uniform brilliancy ofthe snow; the ground seemed to fall beneath the feet of the travellers, and they experienced the same sensation as that of the rolling ofa ship; they could not get accustomed to it, and it made them sleepy, and they often walked on half in a dream. Then some unexpected shock, fall, or obstacle would wake them up from their inertia, whichafterwards took possession of them again. 

On the 25th of January they began to descend, and their dangersincreased. The least slip might send them down a precipice, and therethey would have been infallibly lost. Towards evening an extremelyviolent tempest swept the snow-clad summits; they were obliged tolie down on the ground, and the temperature was so low that they werein danger of being frozen to death. Bell, with the help of Hatteras, built a snow-house, in which the poor fellows took shelter; therethey partook of a little pemmican and warm tea; there were only afew gallons of spirits of wine left, and they were obliged to usethem to quench their thirst, as they could not take snow in its naturalstate; it must be melted. In temperate countries, where thetemperature scarcely falls below freezing point, it is not injurious;but above the Polar circle it gets so cold that it cannot be touchedmore than a red-hot iron; there is such a difference of temperaturethat its absorption produces suffocation. The Esquimaux would rathersuffer the greatest torments than slake their thirst with snow. 

The doctor took his turn to watch at three o'clock in the morning, when the tempest was at its height; he was leaning in a corner ofthe snow-house, when a lamentable groan from Simpson drew hisattention; he rose to go to him, and struck his head against the roof;without thinking of the accident he began to rub Simpson's swollenlimbs; after about a quarter of an hour he got up again, and bumpedhis head again, although he was kneeling then. 

"That's very queer, " he said to himself. 

He lifted his hand above his head, and felt that the roof was lowering. 

"Good God!" he cried; "Hatteras! Bell!"

His cries awoke his companions, who got up quickly, and bumpedthemselves too; the darkness was thick. 

"The roof is falling in!" cried the doctor. 

They all rushed out, dragging Simpson with them; they had no soonerleft their dangerous retreat, than it fell in with a great noise. The poor fellows were obliged to take refuge under the tent covering, which was soon covered with a thick layer of snow, which, as a badconductor, prevented the travellers being frozen alive. The tempestcontinued all through the night. When Bell harnessed the dogs thenext morning he found that some of them had begun to eat their leatherharness, and that two of them were very ill, and could not go muchfurther. However, the caravan set out again; there only remained sixtymiles to go. On the 26th, Bell, who went on in front, called outsuddenly to his companions. They ran up to him, and he pointed toa gun leaning against an iceberg. 

"A gun!" cried the doctor. 

Hatteras took it; it was loaded and in good condition. 

"The men from the _Porpoise_ can't be far off, " said the doctor. 

Hatteras remarked that the gun was of American manufacture, and hishands crisped the frozen barrel. He gave orders to continue the march, and they kept on down the mountain slope. Simpson seemed deprivedof all feeling; he had no longer the strength to complain. The tempestkept on, and the sledge proceeded more and more slowly; they scarcelymade a few miles in twenty-four hours, and in spite of the strictesteconomy, the provisions rapidly diminished; but as long as they hadenough for the return journey, Hatteras kept on. 

On the 27th they found a sextant half-buried in the snow, then aleather bottle; the latter contained brandy, or rather a lump of ice, with a ball of snow in the middle, which represented the spirit; itcould not be used. It was evident that they were following in thesteps of some poor shipwrecked fellows who, like them, had taken theonly practicable route. The doctor looked carefully round for othercairns, but in vain. Sad thoughts came into his mind; he could nothelp thinking that it would be a good thing not to meet with theirpredecessors; what could he and his companions do for them? Theywanted help themselves; their clothes were in rags, and they had notenough to eat. If their predecessors were numerous they would alldie of hunger. Hatteras seemed to wish to avoid them, and could hebe blamed? But these men might be their fellow-countrymen, and, however slight might be the chance of saving them, ought they notto try it? He asked Bell what he thought about it, but the poor fellow'sheart was hardened by his own suffering, and he did not answer. Clawbonny dared not question Hatteras, so he left it to Providence. 

In the evening of the 27th, Simpson appeared to be at the lastextremity; his limbs were already stiff and frozen; his difficultbreathing formed a sort of mist round his head, and convulsivemovements announced that his last hour was come. The expression ofhis face was terrible, desperate, and he threw looks of powerlessanger towards the captain. He accused him silently, and Hatterasavoided him and became more taciturn and wrapped up in himself thanever. The following night was frightful; the tempest redoubled inviolence; the tent was thrown down three times, and the snowdriftsburied the poor fellows, blinded them, froze them, and wounded themwith the sharp icicles struck off the surrounding icebergs. The dogshowled lamentably. Simpson lay exposed to the cruel atmosphere. Bellsucceeded in getting up the tent again, which, though it did notprotect them from the cold, kept out the snow. But a more violentgust blew it down a fourth time, and dragged it along in its fury. 

"Oh, we can't bear it any longer!" cried Bell. 

"Courage, man, courage!" answered the doctor, clinging to him in orderto prevent themselves rolling down a ravine. Simpson's death-rattlewas heard. All at once, with a last effort, he raised himself up andshook his fist at Hatteras, who was looking at him fixedly, then gavea fearful cry, and fell back dead in the midst of his unfinishedthreat. 

"He is dead!" cried the doctor. 

"Dead!" repeated Bell. 

Hatteras advanced towards the corpse, but was driven back by a gustof wind. 

Poor Simpson was the first victim to the murderous climate, the firstto pay with his life the unreasonable obstinacy of the captain. Thedead man had called Hatteras an assassin, but he did not bend beneaththe accusation. A single tear escaped from his eyes and froze on hispale cheek. The doctor and Bell looked at him with a sort of terror. Leaning on his stick, he looked like the genius of the North, uprightin the midst of the whirlwind, and frightful in his immobility. 

He remained standing thus till the first dawn of twilight, bold, tenacious, indomitable, and seemed to defy the tempest that roaredround him. 

CHAPTER XXXII

THE RETURN

The wind went down about six in the morning, and turning suddenlynorth cleared the clouds from the sky; the thermometer marked 33degrees below zero. The first rays of the sun reached the horizonwhich they would gild a few days later. Hatteras came up to his twodejected companions, and said to them, in a low, sad voice:

"We are still more than sixty miles from the spot indicated by SirEdward Belcher. We have just enough provisions to allow us to getback to the brig. If we go on any further we shall meet with certaindeath, and that will do good to no one. We had better retrace oursteps. "

"That is a sensible resolution, Hatteras, " answered the doctor; "Iwould have followed you as far as you led us, but our health getsdaily weaker; we can scarcely put one foot before the other; we oughtto go back. "

"Is that your opinion too, Bell?" asked Hatteras. 

"Yes, captain, " answered the carpenter. 

"Very well, " said Hatteras; "we will take two days' rest. We wantit. The sledge wants mending. I think we had better build ourselvesa snow-house, and try to regain a little strength. "

After this was settled, our three men set to work with vigour. Belltook the necessary precautions to assure the solidity of theconstruction, and they soon had a good shelter at the bottom of theravine where the last halt had taken place. It had cost Hatteras agreat effort to interrupt his journey. All their trouble and painlost! A useless excursion, which one man had paid for with his life. What would become of the crew now that all hope of coal was over?What would Shandon think? Notwithstanding all these painful thoughts, he felt it impossible to go on any further. They began theirpreparations for the return journey at once. The sledge was mended;it had now only two hundred pounds weight to carry. They mended theirclothes, worn-out, torn, soaked with snow, and hardened by the frost;new moccasins and snow-shoes replaced those that were worn out. Thiswork took the whole day of the 29th and the morning of the 30th; thethree travellers rested and comforted themselves as well as theycould. 

During the thirty-six hours passed in the snow-house and on theicebergs of the ravine, the doctor had noticed that Dick's conductwas very strange; he crept smelling about a sort of rising in theground made by several layers of ice; he kept wagging his tail withimpatience, and trying to draw the attention of his master to thespot. The doctor thought that the dog's uneasiness might be causedby the presence of Simpson's body, which he and his companions hadnot yet had time to bury. He resolved to put it off no longer, especially as they intended starting early the next morning. Belland the doctor took their pickaxes and directed their steps towardsthe lowest part of the ravine; the mound indicated by Dick seemedto be a good spot to place the corpse in; they were obliged to buryit deep to keep it from the bears. They began by removing the layerof soft snow, and then attacked the ice. At the third blow of hispickaxe the doctor broke some hard obstacle; he took out the piecesand saw that it was a glass bottle; Bell discovered a smallbiscuit-sack with a few crumbs at the bottom. 

"Whatever does this mean?" said the doctor. 

"I can't think, " answered Bell, suspending his work. 

They called Hatteras, who came immediately. Dick barked loudly, andbegan scratching at the ice. 

"Perhaps we have found a provision-store, " said the doctor. 

"It is possible, " said Bell. 

"Go on, " said Hatteras. 

Some remains of food were drawn out, and a case a quarter full ofpemmican. 

"If it is a hiding-place, " said Hatteras, "the bears have been beforeus. See, the provisions are not intact. "

"I am afraid so, " answered the doctor; "for----"

He was interrupted by a cry from Bell, who had come upon a man's leg, stiffened and frozen. 

"A corpse, " cried the doctor. 

"It is a tomb, " answered Hatteras. 

When the corpse was disinterred it turned out to be that of a sailor, about thirty years old, perfectly preserved. He wore the clothes ofan Arctic navigator. The doctor could not tell how long he had beendead. But after this corpse, Bell discovered a second, that of a manof fifty, bearing the mark of the suffering that had killed him onhis face. 

"These are not buried bodies, " cried the doctor, "the poor fellowswere surprised by death just as we find them. "

"You are right, Mr. Clawbonny, " answered Bell. 

"Go on! go on!" said Hatteras. 

Bell obeyed tremblingly; for who knew how many human bodies the moundcontained?

"These men have been the victims of the same accident that almosthappened to us, " said the doctor. "Their snow-house tumbled in. Letus see if any one of them is still alive. "

The place was soon cleared, and Bell dug out a third body, that ofa man of forty, who had not the cadaverous look of the others. Thedoctor examined him and thought he recognised some symptoms ofexistence. 

"He is alive!" he cried. 

Bell and he carried the body into the snow-house whilst Hatteras, unmoved, contemplated their late habitation. The doctor stripped theresuscitated man and found no trace of a wound on him. He and Bellrubbed him vigorously with oakum steeped in spirits of wine, and theysaw signs of returning consciousness; but the unfortunate man wasin a state of complete prostration, and could not speak a word. Histongue stuck to his palate as if frozen. The doctor searched hispockets, but they were empty. He left Bell to continue the friction, and rejoined Hatteras. The captain had been down into the depths ofthe snow-house, and had searched about carefully. He came up holdinga half-burnt fragment of a letter. These words were on it:

 ... Tamont ... Orpoise ... W York. 

"Altamont!" cried the doctor, of the ship _Porpoise_, of New York. "

"An American, " said Hatteras. 

"I'll save him, " said the doctor, "and then we shall know all aboutit. "

He went back to Altamont whilst Hatteras remained pensive. Thanksto his attentions, the doctor succeeded in recalling the unfortunateman to life, but not to feeling; he neither saw, heard, nor spoke, but he lived. The next day Hatteras said to the doctor:

"We must start at once. "

"Yes. The sledge is not loaded; we'll put the poor fellow on it andtake him to the brig. "

"Very well; but we must bury these bodies first. "

The two unknown sailors were placed under the ruins of the snow-houseagain, and Simpson's corpse took Altamont's place. The threetravellers buried their companion, and at seven o'clock in the morningthey set out again. Two of the Greenland dogs were dead, and Dickoffered himself in their place. He pulled with energy. 

During the next twenty days the travellers experienced the sameincidents as before. But as it was in the month of February they didnot meet with the same difficulty from the ice. It was horribly cold, but there was not much wind. The sun reappeared for the first timeon the 31st of January, and every day he stopped longer above thehorizon. Bell and the doctor were almost blinded and half-lame; thecarpenter was obliged to walk upon crutches. Altamont still lived, but he was in a state of complete insensibility. The doctor took greatcare of him, although he wanted attention himself; he was gettingill with fatigue. Hatteras thought of nothing but his ship. What stateshould he find it in?

On the 24th of February he stopped all of a sudden. A red light appearedabout 300 paces in front, and a column of black smoke went up to thesky. 

"Look at that smoke! my ship is burning, " said he with a beating heart. 

"We are three miles off yet, " said Bell; "it can't be the _Forward_. "

"Yes it is, " said the doctor; "the mirage makes it seem nearer. "

The three men, leaving the sledge to the care of Dick, ran on, andin an hour's time were in sight of the ship. She was burning in themidst of the ice, which melted around her. A hundred steps farthera man met them, wringing his hands before the _Forward_ in flames. It was Johnson. Hatteras ran to him. 

"My ship! My ship!" cried he. 

"Is that you, captain? Oh, don't come any nearer, " said Johnson. 

"What is it?" said Hatteras. 

"The wretches left forty-eight hours ago, after setting fire to theship. "

"Curse them!" cried Hatteras. 

A loud explosion was then heard; the ground trembled; the icebergsfell upon the ice-field; a column of smoke went up into the clouds, and the _Forward_ blew up. The doctor and Bell reached Hatteras, whoout of the depths of despair cried:

"The cowards have fled! The strong will succeed! Johnson and Bell, you are courageous. Doctor, you have science. I have faith. To theNorth Pole! To the North Pole!"

His companions heard these energetic words, and they did them good;but it was a terrible situation for these four men, alone, under the80th degree of latitude, in the midst of the Polar Regions!

END OF PART I OF THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS