The English at the North Pole

tack it. The ice-fields, several miles in extent, were getting nearer, and as these moving heaps often represent a pressure of more than ten millions of tons, it was nece

of it, if it did not refuse to obey. At the same time that they assisted in the inst

there's a very jolly tavern in Water-street where it's comfortable to be be

questioned sailor, who generally professed to

e snow towns Dr. Clawbonny admires so don't contain the leas

here's nothing worth drinking here. It's a nice idea to dep

r told us it was to prevent us getting the

ty well to have come this far without trying

" replied Pen. "I declare I've a

t the doctor says

It remains to be seen if it isn't an e

ght, after all

Bolton. "Pen needn't grumble if it lose

sailor, attacked in the most sensitive place. "My nose

. I like a glass of whisky as well as anybody, especially in such a tem

rren, the stoker; "but ev

rren?" asked Garry, l

there are spirits on board, and I kn

ou know that?

at to say: he talked f

know anything about it

ander for a ration of gin; we've earn

I were you,"

ied Pen a

eren't to have any when you enlisted;

rt because he liked his character, "Richard Sh

aster if

cap

at on these ice-banks there's no more a captain than there is a pub

ed Bolton, "I'll bet two months'

l the captain a bit o

was Clifton, the sailor, a superstitious and envious m

all answe

fine morning installed in his cabin,

lifton, you imagine that he's a hobgobli

Every day as I pass his cabin I look through the keyhole. One o

d if he thinks he'll be able to do what he likes

d Bolton, "and he's beginning

Clifton, looking knowing; "

l do you mean?

ry well wh

we do

quarrelled wi

the ca

g-captain-it

at one another, afr

eclare that that animal will hav

sly, "you don't mean to say that you

ion. "If you noticed things like I do, you w

us what you'

e poop with such an air of authority, looki

"and one evening I actually found h

mean it!" s

t go for a walk on the ice-fields, mi

e enough,"

the night when he goes away two or three miles from the vessel, howling fit to make your blood run cold, as if it weren't easy enough to feel that sensation in such a temperature as this? Again, have you

d all Clifton's reasoning, "I shouldn't be surprised i

te, where's the

d Bell. "Richard Shandon will receive th

from

m wh

ked Bolton, be

Bell!" chimed in al

t know," said the carpente

dy; why shouldn't he again? If I only knew half of what that 'ere animal

your opinion that th

es

want to turn up his toes in a dog's skin, he's only got to ma

r?" aske

Pen brutally; "besides, it

in time, for the conversation was getting hot. "Get on with your wor

ng his shoulders. "You'll see she won't get o

un's rays rendered dazzling. At seven in the morning the thermometer marked eight degrees below zero. The doctor was tempted to stay quietly in his cabin, and read the Arctic voyages over again; but, according to his custom, he asked himself what would be the most disagreeable thing he could do, which he settled was to go on deck and assist the men to work in such a temperature. Faithful to the l

ies of moving rocks, the crushing force of which it was impossible to resist. Moving became so difficult that Garry, the best helmsman, took the wheel; the mountains had a tendency to close up behind the brig; it then became essential to cut through the floating ice, and prudence as well as duty ordered them to go ahead. Difficulties became greater from the impossibility that Shandon found in establishing the direction of the vessel amongst such changing points, which kept moving without offering one firm perspective. The crew was divided into two tacks, larboard and starboard; each one, armed with a long perch with

nting with his right hand at the direction the helmsman was to take, and with his left was

nd?" asked the d

se God," replie

h, was only about a cable's length from the F

claimed Pen, swea

hich it was impossible to reco

ere was a moment of undefinable anguish; the men forsook thei

ry, at the helm, held the Forward in a straight line in spite of the frightful incumbrance. When their frightened looks were drawn towards the mountain of

hnson, "can you explain to me

their balance; but by degrees, as they near the south, where the water is relatively warmer, their base, shaken by the collision with other icebergs, begins to melt and weaken; it t