In the east and west were two capes gently sloping to the water; at

their end the sea was breaking, and the wind was carrying a slight

foam. The land of New America thus died away in the Polar Ocean,

quietly and gently. It rounded into an open bay, with roadstead

enclosed by the two promontories. In the middle a rock made a little

natural harbor, sheltered against three points of the compass; it ran

back into the land in the broad bed of a stream, through which ran

down the melted snows of winter, now forming a perfect torrent.

Hatteras, after noticing the outline of the coast, resolved to make

the preparations for departure that very day, to launch the boat, to

put the unloaded sledge on board for future excursions. That took all

day; then the tent was raised, and after a comfortable meal work

began. Meanwhile the doctor took out his instruments to take an

observation and determine the position of a part of the bay. Hatteras

hurried on the work; he was anxious to start; he wanted to leave the

land, and to be in advance in case any others should reach the sea.

At five o'clock in the evening Johnson and Bell had nothing to do but

to fold their arms. The launch was rocking gently in her little

harbor, with her mast set, her jib lowered, and her foresail in the

brails; the provisions and most of the things on the sledge had been

put on board; only the tent and a little of the camping material

remained to be put on board the next day. The doctor found all these

preparations complete on his return. When he saw the launch quietly

sheltered from the wind, it occurred to him to give a name to the

little harbor, and he proposed that of Altamont. This proposition was

unanimously agreed to. So it was named Altamont Harbor.

[Illustration: "The launch was rocking gently in her little harbor."]

According to the doctor's calculations, it lay in latitude 87 degrees

5 minutes, and longitude 118 degrees 35 minutes E. of Greenwich; that

is to say, less than three degrees from the Pole. The band had gone

more than two hundred miles from Victoria Bay to Altamont Harbor.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE OPEN SEA.

The next morning Johnson and Bell set about carrying on board the

camping material. At eight o'clock all the preparations for departure

were complete. At the moment of starting the doctor's thoughts

returned to the footprints they had seen. Were these men trying to

gain the North? Had they any means of crossing the Polar Sea! Should

they meet them again? For three days they had come across no trace of

the travellers, and certainly, whoever they were, they could not have

reached Altamont Harbor. That was a place which they were the first to

set foot in. But the doctor, who was harassed by his thoughts, wanted

to take a last view of the country, and he ascended a little hill

about a hundred feet high, whence he had a distant view to the south.

When he had reached the top, he put his glass to his eyes. Great was

his surprise when he found he could not see anything, either at a

distance on the plains, or within a few feet of him. This seemed very

odd; he made another examination, and at last he looked at the

glass,--the object-glass was missing.

[Illustration]

"The object-glass!" he cried.

The sudden revelation may be imagined; he uttered a cry so loud as to

be heard by his companions, and they were much astonished at seeing

him running down the hill.

"Well, what's the matter now?" asked Johnson.

The doctor was out of breath, and unable to speak. At length he

managed to bring out,--

"The footprints!--the expedition!--"

"Well, what?" said Hatteras; "are they here?"

"No, no!" resumed the doctor,--"the object-glass, mine!"

And he showed his own glass.

"O, ho!" cried the American, "so you lost--"

"Yes!"

"But then the footprints--"

"Our own!" cried the doctor. "We lost our way in the fog! We went

around in a circle, and came across our own footprints!"

"But the print of the shoes?" asked Hatteras.

"Bell's, you know, who walked all day in the snow after breaking his

snow-shoes."

"That's true," said Bell.

Their mistake was so clear, that they all, except Hatteras, burst out

laughing, and he was none the less pleased at the discovery.

"We were stupid enough," said the doctor, when they had stopped

laughing. What good guesses we made! Strangers up here! Really, we

ought to think before speaking. Well, since we are easy on this point,

we can't do better than start."

"Forward!" said Hatteras.

A quarter of an hour later each one had taken his place on board of

the launch, which sailed out of Altamont Harbor under mainsail and

jib. This voyage began Wednesday, July 10th; they were then very near

the Pole, exactly one hundred and seventy-five miles from it. However

small the land might be at that point of the globe, the voyage would

certainly be a short one. The wind was light, but fair. The

thermometer stood at 50 degrees; it was really warm.

The launch had not been injured by the journey on the sledge; it was

in perfect order, and sailed easily. Johnson was at the helm; the

doctor, Bell, and Altamont were lying as best they might among the

load, partly on deck, partly below.

Hatteras stood forward, with his eyes turned to the mysterious point,

which attracted him with an irresistible power, as the magnetic pole

attracts the needle. If there should be any land, he wanted to be the

first to see it. This honor really belonged to him. He noticed,

besides, that the surface of the Polar Sea was covered with short

waves, like those of land locked seas. This he considered a proof of

the nearness of the opposite shore, and the doctor shared his opinion.

Hatteras's desire to find land at the North Pole is perfectly

comprehensible. His disappointment would have been great if the

uncertain sea covered the place where he wanted to find a piece of

land, no matter how small! In fact, how could he give a special name

to an uncertain portion of the sea? How plant the flag of his country

among the waves? How take possession, in the name of her Gracious

Majesty, of the liquid element?

So Hatteras, compass in hand, gazed steadily at the north. There was

nothing that he could see between him and the horizon, where the line

of the blue water met the blue sky. A few floating icebergs seemed to

be leaving the way free for these bold sailors. The appearance of this

region was singularly strange. Was this impression simply the result

of the nervous excitement of the travellers? It is hard to say. Still,

the doctor in his journal has described the singular appearance of the

ocean; he spoke of it as Penny did, according to whom these countries

present an appearance "offering the most striking contrast of a sea

filled with millions of living creatures."

The sea, with its various colors, appeared strangely transparent, and

endowed with a wonderful dispersive quality, as if it had been made

with carburet of sulphur. This clearness let them see down into

immeasurable depths; it seemed as if the sea were lit up like a large

aquarium; probably some electric phenomenon at the bottom of the sea

lit it up. So the launch seemed hung in a bottomless abyss.

[Illustration]

On the surface of the water the birds were flying in large flocks,

like thick clouds big with a storm. Aquatic birds of all sorts were

there, from the albatross which is common to the south, to the penguin

of the arctic seas, but of enormous size. Their cries were deafening.

In considering them the doctor found his knowledge of natural history

too scanty; many of the names escaped him, and he found himself bowing

his head when their wings beat the air.

[Illustration: "Aquatic birds of all sorts were there."]

Some of these large birds measured twenty feet from tip to tip; they

covered the whole launch with their expanded wings; and there were

legions of these birds, of which the names had never appeared in the

London "Index Ornithologus." The doctor was dejected and stupefied at

finding his science so faulty. Then, when his glance fell from the

wonders of the air to the calm surface of the ocean, he saw no less

astonishing productions of the animal kingdom, among others, medusae

thirty feet broad; they served as food for the other fish, and they

floated like islands amid the sea-weed. What a difference from the

microscopic medusae observed in the seas of Greenland by Scoresby, and

of which that explorer estimated the number at twenty-three trillions

eight hundred and ninety-eight billions of millions in a space of two

square miles!

Then the eye glancing down into the transparent water, the sight was

equally strange, so full was it of fishes; sometimes the animals were

swimming about below, and the eye saw them gradually disappearing, and

fading away like spectres; then they would leave the lower layers and

rise to the surface. The monsters seemed in no way alarmed at the

presence of the launch; they even passed near it, rubbing their fins

against it; this, which would have alarmed whalers, did not disturb

these men, and yet the sea-monsters were very large.

[Illustration: "Then the eye glancing down into the transparent water,

the sight was equally strange."]

Young sea-calves played about them; the sword-fish, with its long,

narrow, conical sword, with which it cleaves the ice, was chasing the

more timid cetacea; numberless spouting whales were clearly to be

heard. The sword-caper, with its delicate tail and large caudal fins,

swam with incomprehensible quickness, feeding on smaller animals, such

as the cod, as swift as itself; while the white whale, which is more

inactive, swallowed peacefully the tranquil, lazy mollusks.

Farther down were Greenland anamaks, long and dark; huge sperm-whales,

swimming in the midst of ambergris, in which took place thomeric

battles that reddened the ocean for many miles around; the great

Labrador tegusik. Sharp-backed dolphins, the whole family of seals and

walruses, sea-dogs, horses and bears, lions and elephants, seemed to

be feeding on the rich pastures; and the doctor admired the numberless

animals, as he would have done the crustacea in the crystal basins of

the zoological garden.

What beauty, variety, and power in nature! How strange and wonderful

everything seemed in the polar regions!

The air acquired an unnatural purity; one would have said it was full

of oxygen; the explorers breathed with delight this air, which filled

them with fresher life; without taking account of the result, they

were, so to speak, exposed to a real consuming fire, of which one can

give no idea, not even a feeble one. Their emotions, their breathing

and digestion, were endowed with superhuman energy; their ideas became

more excited; they lived a whole day in an hour.

Through all these wonders the launch pushed on before a moderate

breeze, occasionally feeling the air moved by the albatrosses' wings.

Towards evening, the coast of New America disappeared beneath the

horizon. In the temperate zones, as well as at the equator, night

falls; but here the sun simply described a circle parallel to the line

of the horizon. The launch, bathed in its oblique rays, could not lose

sight of it.

The animate beings of these regions seemed to know the approach of

evening as truly as if the sun had set; birds, fish, cetacea, all

disappeared. Whither? To the depths of the ocean? Who could say? But

soon total silence succeeded to their cries, and the sound of their

passage through the water; the sea grew calmer and calmer, and night

retained its gentle peace even beneath the glowing sun.

Since leaving Altamont Harbor the launch had made one degree to the

north; the next day nothing appeared on the horizon, neither

projecting peaks nor those vague signs by which sailors detect their

nearness to land.

The wind was good, but not strong, the sea not high; the birds and

fish came as thick as the day before; the doctor, leaning over the

gunwale, could see the cetacea rising slowly to the surface; a few

icebergs and scattered pieces of ice alone broke the monotony of the

ocean.

But the ice grew rarer, and was not enough to interfere with the boat.

It is to be remembered that the launch was then ten degrees above the

pole of cold; and as to the parallels of temperature, they might as

well have been ten degrees to the other side. There was nothing

surprising in the sea being open at this epoch, as it must have been

at Disco Island in Baffin's Bay. So a sailing vessel would have plenty

of sailing room in the summer months.

This observation had a great practical importance; in fact, if whalers

can ever get to the polar basin, either by the seas of North America

or those of the north of Asia, they are sure of getting full cargoes,

for this part of the ocean seems to be the universal fishing-pond, the

general reservoir of whales, seals, and all marine animals. At noon

the line of the horizon was still unbroken; the doctor began to doubt

of the existence of a continent in so high latitudes.

Still, as he reflected, he was compelled to believe in the existence

of an arctic continent; in fact, at the creation of the world, after

the cooling of the terrestrial crust, the waters formed by the

condensation of the atmospheric vapor were compelled to obey the

centrifugal force, to fly to the equator and leave the motionless

extremities of the globe. Hence the necessary emersion of the

countries near the Pole. The doctor considered this reasoning very

just. And so it seemed to Hatteras.

[Illustration]

Hence the captain still tried to pierce the mists of the horizon. His

glass never left his eyes. In the color of the water, the shape of the

waves, the direction of the wind, he tried to find traces of

neighboring land. His head was bent forward, and even one who did not

know his thoughts would have admired, so full was his attitude of

energetic desire and anxious interrogation.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE APPROACH TO THE POLE.

The time flew by in this uncertainty. Nothing appeared on the sharply

defined circle of the sea; nothing was to be seen save sky and

sea,--not one of those floating land-plants which rejoiced the heart

of Christopher Columbus as he was about to discover America. Hatteras

was still gazing. At length, at about six o'clock in the evening, a

shapeless vapor appeared at a little height above the level of the

sea; it looked like a puff of smoke; the sky was perfectly cold, so

this vapor was no cloud; it would keep appearing and disappearing, as

if it were in commotion. Hatteras was the first to detect this

phenomenon; he examined it with his glass for a whole hour.

Suddenly, some sure sign apparently occurred to him, for he stretched

out his arms to the horizon and cried in a loud voice,--

"Land, ho!"

At these words each one sprang to his feet as if moved by electricity.

A sort of smoke was clearly rising above the sea.

[Illustration]

"I see it," cried the doctor.

"Yes! certainly!--yes!" said Johnson.

"It's a cloud," said Altamont.

"It's land!" answered Hatteras, as if perfectly convinced.

But, as often happens with objects that are indistinct in the

distance, the point they had been looking at seemed to have

disappeared. At length they found it again, and the doctor even

fancied that he could see a swift light twenty or twenty-five miles to

the north.

"It's a volcano!" he cried.

[Illustration: "'It's a volcano!' he cried."]

"A volcano?" said Altamont.

"Without doubt."

"At this high latitude?"

"And why not?" continued the doctor; "isn't Iceland a volcanic land,

so to speak, made of volcanoes?"

"Yes, Iceland," said the American, "but so near the Pole!"

"Well, didn't Commodore James Ross find in the Southern Continent two

active volcanoes, Erebus and Terror by name, in longitude 170 degrees

and latitude 78 degrees? Why then shouldn't there be volcanoes at the

North Pole?"

"It may be so, after all," answered Altamont.

"Ah," cried the doctor, "I see it clearly! It is a volcano."

"Well," said Hatteras, "let us sail straight towards it."

"The wind is changing," said Johnson.

"Haul on the fore-sheet, and bring her nearer the wind."

But this manoeuvre only turned the launch away from the point they had

been gazing at, and even with their closest examination they could not

find it again. Still, they could not doubt that they were nearing

land. They had seen, if they had not reached, the object of their

voyage, and within twenty-four hours they would set foot on this

unknown shore. Providence, after letting them get so near, would not

drive them back at the last moment.

Still, no one manifested the joy which might have been expected under

the circumstances; each one wondered in silence what this polar land

might be. The animals seemed to shun it; at evening the birds, instead

of seeking refuge there, flew with all speed to the south. Could not a

single gull or ptarmigan find a resting-place there? Even the fish,

the large cetacea, avoided that coast. Whence came this repugnance,

which was shared by all the animals they saw, unless from terror?

The sailors experienced the same feeling; they gave way to the

feelings inspired by the situation, and gradually each one felt his

eyelids grow heavy. It was Hatteras's watch. He took the tiller; the

doctor, Altamont, Johnson, and Bell fell asleep, stretched on the

benches, and soon were dreaming soundly. Hatteras struggled against

his sleepiness; he wished to lose not a moment; but the gentle motion

of the launch rocked him, in spite of himself, into a gentle sleep.

The boat made hardly any headway; the wind did not keep her sails

full. Far off in the west a few icebergs were reflecting the sun's

rays, and glowing brightly in the midst of the ocean.

Hatteras began to dream. He recalled his whole life, with the

incalculable speed of dreams; he went through the winter again, the

scenes at Victoria Bay, Fort Providence, Doctor's House, the finding

the American beneath the snow. Here remoter incidents came up before

him; he dreamed of the burning of the _Forward_, of his treacherous

companions who had abandoned him. What had become of them? He thought

of Shandon, Wall, and the brutal Pen. Where were they now? Had they

succeeded in reaching Baffin's Bay across the ice? Then he went

further back, to his departure from England, to his previous voyages,

his failures and misfortunes. Then he forgot his present situation,

his success so near at hand, his hopes half realized. His dreams

carried him from joy to agony. So it went on for two hours; then his

thoughts changed; he began to think of the Pole, and he saw himself at

last setting foot on this English continent, and unfolding the flag of

the United Kingdom. While he was dozing in this way a huge, dark cloud

was climbing across the sky, throwing a deep shadow over the sea.

[Illustration]

It is difficult to imagine the great speed with which hurricanes arise

in the arctic seas. The vapors which rise under the equator are

condensed above the great glaciers of the North, and large masses of

air are needed to take their place. This can explain the severity of

arctic storms.

At the first shock of the wind the captain and his friends awoke from

their sleep, ready to manage the launch. The waves were high and

steep. The launch tossed helplessly about, now plunged into deep

abysses, now oscillated on the pointed crest of a wave, inclining

often at an angle of more than forty-five degrees. Hatteras took firm

hold of the tiller, which was noisily sliding from one side to the

other. Every now and then some strong wave would strike it and nearly

throw him over. Johnson and Bell were busily occupied in bailing out

the water which the launch would occasionally ship.

[Illustration: "The launch tossed helplessly about."]

"This is a storm we hardly expected," said Altamont, holding fast to

his bench.

"We ought to expect anything here," answered the doctor.

These remarks were made amid the roar of the tempest and the hissing

of the waves, which the violence of the wind reduced to a fine spray.

It was nearly impossible for one to hear his neighbor. It was hard to

keep the boat's head to the north; the clouds hid everything a few

fathoms from the boat, and they had no mark to sail by. This sudden

tempest, just as they were about attaining their object, seemed full

of warning; to their excited minds it came like an order to go no

farther. Did Nature forbid approach to the Pole? Was this point of the

globe surrounded by hurricanes and tempests which rendered access

impossible? But any one who had caught sight of those men could have

seen that they did not flinch before wind or wave, and that they would

push on to the end. So they struggled on all day, braving death at

every instant, and making no progress northward, but also losing no

ground; they were wet through by the rain and waves; above the din of

the storm they could hear the hoarse cries of the birds.

But at six o'clock in the evening, while the waves were rising, there

came a sudden calm. The wind stopped as if by a miracle. The sea was

smooth, as if it had not felt a puff of wind for twelve hours. The

hurricane seemed to have respected this part of the Polar Ocean. What

was the reason? It was an extraordinary phenomenon, which Captain

Sabine had witnessed in his voyages in Greenland seas. The fog,

without lifting, was very bright. The launch drifted along in a zone

of electric light, an immense St. Elmo fire, brilliant but without

heat. The mast, sail, and rigging stood out black against the

phosphorescent air; the men seemed to have plunged into a bath of

transparent rays, and their faces were all lit up. The sudden calm of

this portion of the ocean came, without doubt, from the ascending

motion of the columns of air, while the tempest, which was a cyclone,

turned rapidly about this peaceful centre. But this atmosphere on fire

suggested a thought to Hatteras.

[Illustration: "The fog, without lifting, was very bright."]

"The volcano!" he cried.

"Is it possible?" asked Bell.

"No, no!" answered the doctor; "we should be smothered if the flames

were to reach us."

"Perhaps it is its reflection in the fog," said Altamont.

"No. We should have to admit that we were near land, and in that case

we should hear the eruption."

"But then?" asked the captain.

"It is a phenomenon," said the doctor, "which has been seldom observed

hitherto. If we go on we cannot help leaving this luminous sphere and

re-entering storm and darkness."

"Whatever it is, push on!" said Hatteras.

"Forward!" cried his companions, who did not wish to delay even for

breathing-time in this quiet spot. The bright sail hung down the

glistening mast; the oars dipped into the glowing waves, and appeared

to drip with sparks. Hatteras, compass in hand, turned the boat's head

to the north; gradually the mist lost its brightness and transparency;

the wind could be heard roaring a short distance off; and soon the

launch, lying over before a strong gust, re-entered the zone of

storms. Fortunately, the hurricane had shifted a point towards the

south, and the launch was able to run before the wind, straight for

the Pole, running the risk of foundering, but sailing very fast; a

rock, reef, or piece of ice might at any moment rise before them, and

crush them to atoms. Still, no one of these men raised a single

objection, nor suggested prudence. They were seized with the madness

of danger. Thirst for the unknown took possession of them. They were

going along, not blinded, but blindly, finding their speed only too

slow for their impatience. Hatteras held the tiller firm amid the

waves lashed into foam by the tempest. Still the proximity of land

became evident. Strange signs filled the air. Suddenly the mist parted

like a curtain torn by the wind, and for a moment, brief as a flash of

lightning, a great burst of flame could be seen rising towards the

sky.

"The volcano! the volcano!" was the cry which escaped from the lips of

all; but the strange vision disappeared at once; the wind shifted to

the southeast, took the launch on her quarter, and drove her from this

unapproachable land.

"Malediction!" said Hatteras, shifting her sail; "we were not three

miles from land!"

Hatteras could not resist the force of the tempest; but without

yielding to it, he brought the boat about in the wind, which was

blowing with fearful violence. Every now and then the launch leaned to

one side, so that almost her whole keel was exposed; still she obeyed

her rudder, and rose like a stumbling horse which his rider brings up

by spur and reins. Hatteras, with his hair flying and his hand on the

tiller, seemed to be part of the boat, like horse and man at the time

of the centaurs. Suddenly a terrible sight presented itself to their

eyes. Within less than ten fathoms a floe was balancing on the waves;

it fell and rose like the launch, threatening in its fall to crush it

to atoms. But to this danger of being plunged into the abyss was added

another no less terrible; for this drifting floe was covered with

white bears, crowded together and wild with terror.

[Illustration: "This drifting floe was covered with white bears,

crowded together."]

"Bears! bears!" cried Bell, in terror.

And each one gazed with terror. The floe pitched fearfully, sometimes

at such an angle that the bears were all rolled together. Then their

roars were almost as loud as the tempest; a formidable din arose from

the floating menagerie.

If the floe had upset, the bears would have swum to the boat and

clambered aboard.

For a quarter of an hour, which was as long as a century, the launch

and floe drifted along in consort, twenty fathoms from one another at

one moment and nearly running together the next, and at times they

were so near to one another, the bears need only have dropped to have

got on board. The Greenland dogs trembled from terror; Duke remained

motionless. Hatteras and his companions were silent; it did not occur

to them to put the helm down and sail away, and they went straight on.

A vague feeling, of astonishment rather than terror, took possession

of them; they admired this spectacle which completed the struggle of

the elements. Finally the floe drifted away, borne by the wind, which

the launch was able to withstand, as she lay with her head to the

wind, and it disappeared in the mist, its presence being known merely

by the distant roaring of the bears.

At that moment the fury of the tempest redoubled; there was an endless

unchaining of atmospheric waves; the boat, borne by the waves, was

tossed about giddily; her sail flew away like a huge white bird; a

whirlpool, a new Maelstrom, formed among the waves; the boat was

carried so fast that it seemed to the men as if the rapidly revolving

water were motionless. They were gradually sinking down. There was an

irresistible power dragging them down and ingulfing them alive. All

five arose. They looked at one another with terror. They grew dizzy.

They felt an undefinable dread of the abyss! But suddenly the launch

arose perpendicularly. Her prow was higher than the whirling waves;

the speed with which she was moving hurled her beyond the centre of

attraction, and escaping by the tangent of this circumference which

was making more than a thousand turns a second, she was hurled away

with the rapidity of a cannon-ball.

[Illustration: "Her sail flew away like a huge white bird; a

whirlpool, a new Maelstrom, formed among the waves."]

Altamont, the doctor, Johnson, and Bell were thrown down among the

seats. When they rose, Hatteras had disappeared. It was two o'clock in

the morning.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ENGLISH FLAG.

One cry, bursting from the lips of the other four, succeeded their

first stupefaction.

"Hatteras!" cried the doctor.

"Gone!" said Johnson and Bell.

"Lost!"

They looked about, but nothing was to be seen on the storm-tossed sea.

Duke barked despairingly; he tried to spring into the water, but Bell

managed to hold him.

"Take a place at the helm, Altamont," said the doctor; "let us try

everything to save the captain."

Johnson and Bell took their seats. Altamont took the helm, and the

launch came into wind again. Johnson and Bell began to row vigorously;

for an hour they remained at the scene of the accident. They sought

earnestly, but in vain. The unfortunate Hatteras was lost in the

storm! Lost, so near the Pole, so near the end, of which he had had

but a glimpse!

The doctor called aloud, and fired the guns; Duke added his howling,

but there was no answer. Then profound grief seized Clawbonny; his

head sank into his hands, and his companions saw that he was weeping.

In fact, at this distance from land, with a scrap of wood to hold him

up, Hatteras could not reach the shore alive; and if anything did come

ashore, it would be his disfigured corpse. After hunting for an hour,

they decided to turn to the north, and struggle against the last

furies of the tempest.

At five o'clock in the morning of July 11th the wind went down; the

sea grew quieter; the sky regained its polar clearness, and within

three miles of them appeared the land. This continent was but an

island, or rather a volcano, peering up like a lighthouse at the North

Pole. The mountain, in full eruption, was hurling forth a mass of

burning stones and melting rocks. It seemed to be rising and falling

beneath the successive blasts as if it were breathing; the things

which were cast out reached a great height in the air; amid the jets

of flame, torrents of lava were flowing down the side of the mountain;

here creeping between steaming rocks, there falling in cascades amid

the purple vapor: and lower down a thousand streams united in one

large river, which ran boiling into the sea.

[Illustration: "The mountain was in full eruption."]

The volcano seemed to have but a single crater, whence arose a column

of fire, lighted by transverse rays; one would have said that part of

the magnificence of the phenomenon was due to electricity. Above the

flames floated an immense cloud of smoke, red below, black above. It

rose with great majesty, and unrolled into huge layers.

The sky at a considerable height had an ashy hue; the darkness, which

was so marked during the tempest, and of which the doctor could give

no satisfactory explanation, evidently came from the ashes, which

completely hid the sun. He remembered a similar fact that took place

in 1812, at the Barbadoes, which at noon was plunged into total

darkness by the mass of cinders thrown from the crater of Isle St.

Vincent.

This enormous volcano, jutting up in mid-ocean, was about six thousand

feet high, very nearly the altitude of Hecla. A line from the summit

to the base would form with the horizon an angle of about eleven

degrees. It seemed to rise from the bosom of the waves as the launch

approached it. There was no trace of vegetation. There was no shore;

it ran down steep to the sea.

"Shall we be able to land?" said the doctor.

"The wind is carrying us there," answered Altamont.

"But I can't see any beach on which we could set foot."

"So it seems from here," answered Johnson; "but we shall find some

place for our boat; that is all we need."

"Let us go on, then!" answered Clawbonny, sadly.

The doctor had no eyes for the strange continent which was rising

before him. The land of the Pole was there, but not the man who had

discovered it. Five hundred feet from the rocks the sea was boiling

under the action of subterraneous fires. The island was from eight to

ten miles in circumference, no more; and, according to their

calculation, it was very near the Pole, if indeed the axis of the

world did not pass exactly through it. As they drew near they noticed

a little fiord large enough to shelter their boat; they sailed towards

it, filled with the fear of finding the captain's body cast ashore by

the tempest.

[Illustration: "They noticed a little fiord."]

Still, it seemed unlikely that any corpse should rest there; there was

no beach, and the sea beat against the steep rocks; thick ashes, on

which no human foot had ever stepped, covered the ground beyond the

reach of the waves. At last the launch slipped between the breakers,

and there she was perfectly sheltered against the surf. Then Duke's

lamentable howling redoubled; the poor animal called for the captain

with his sad wails among the rocks. His barking was vain; and the

doctor caressed him, without being able to calm him, when the faithful

dog, as if he wanted to replace his master, made a prodigious leap,

and was the first to get ashore amid the dust and ashes which flew

about him.

"Duke! Duke!" said the doctor.

Duke did not hear him, but disappeared. The men then went ashore, and

made the launch fast. Altamont was preparing to climb up a large pile

of rocks, when Duke's distant barking was heard; it expressed pain,

not wrath.

"Listen!" said the doctor.

"Has he got on the track of some animal?" asked the boatswain.

"No," answered the doctor, quivering with emotion; "he's mourning,

crying! Hatteras's body is there!"

At these words the four men started after Duke, in the midst of

blinding cinders; they reached the end of the fiord, a little place

ten feet broad, where the waves were gently breaking. There Duke was

barking near a body wrapped up in the English flag.

"Hatteras, Hatteras!" cried the doctor, rushing to the body of his

friend.

But at once he uttered an explanation which it is impossible to

render. This bleeding and apparently lifeless body had just given

signs of life.

"Alive, alive!" he cried.

"Yes," said a feeble voice, "living on the land of the Pole, where the

tempest cast me up! Living on Queen Island!"

"Hurrah for England!" cried the five together.

"And for America!" added the doctor, holding out one hand to Hatteras

and the other to Altamont. Duke, too, hurrahed in his own way, which

was as good as any other.

At first these kind-hearted men were wholly given up to the pleasure

of seeing their captain again; they felt the tears welling up into

their eyes. The doctor examined Hatteras's condition. He was not

seriously injured. The wind had carried him to the shore, where it was

hard to land; the bold sailor, often beaten back, at last succeeded in

clambering upon a rock above the reach of the waves. Then he lost

consciousness, after wrapping himself up in his flag, and he only came

to himself under Duke's caresses and barking. After receiving a few

attentions, Hatteras was able to rise, and, leaning on the doctor's

arm, to go to the launch.

"The Pole, the North Pole!" he repeated as he walked along.

"You are happy!" the doctor said to him.

"Yes, happy! And you, my friend, don't you feel happy at being here?

This land is the land of the Pole! This sea we have crossed is the sea

of the Pole! This air we breathe is the air of the Pole! O, the North

Pole, the North Pole!"

As he spoke, Hatteras was the victim of a violent excitement, a sort

of fever, and the doctor in vain tried to calm him. His eyes were

strangely bright, and his thoughts were boiling within him. Clawbonny

ascribed this condition to the terrible perils he had gone through.

Hatteras evidently needed rest, and they set about seeking a place to

camp. Altamont soon found a grotto in the rocks, which had fallen in

such a way as to form a cavern. Johnson and Bell brought provisions

there, and let loose the dogs. Towards eleven o'clock everything was

prepared for a meal; the canvas of the tent served as a cloth; the

breakfast, consisting of pemmican, salt meat, tea and coffee, was set

and soon devoured. But first, Hatteras demanded that an observation

should be made; he wanted to know its position exactly. The doctor and

Altamont then took their instruments, and after taking an observation

they found the precise position of the grotto to be latitude 89

degrees 59 minutes 15 seconds. The longitude at this height was of no

importance, for all the meridians run together within a few hundred

feet higher. So in reality the island was situated at the North Pole,

and the ninetieth degree of latitude was only forty-five seconds from

there, exactly three quarters of a mile, that is to say, towards the

top of the volcano. When Hatteras knew this result, he asked that it

should be stated in two documents, one to be placed in a cairn on the

shore. So at once the doctor took his pen and wrote the following

document, one copy of which is now in the archives of the Royal

Geographical Society in London:--

"July 11, 1861, in north latitude 89 degrees 59 minutes 15 seconds,

'Queen Island' was discovered at the North Pole by Captain Hatteras,

commanding the brig _Forward_ of Liverpool, who has set his name

hereto, with his companions. Whoever shall find this document is

entreated to forward it to the Admiralty.

(Signed) JOHN HATTERAS, Captain of the _Forward_.

DR. CLAWBONNY.

ALTAMONT, Captain of the _Porpoise_.

JOHNSON, Boatswain.

BELL, Carpenter."

"And now, my friends, to table!" said the doctor, gayly.

[Illustration: "Altamont soon found a grotto in the rocks."]

CHAPTER XXIV.

POLAR COSMOGRAPHY.

Of course, to eat at table, they were obliged to sit on the ground.

"But," said Clawbonny, "who wouldn't give all the tables and

dining-rooms in the world, to dine in north latitude 89 degrees 59

minutes 15 seconds?"

The thoughts of each one were about their situation. They had no other

idea than the North Pole. The dangers they had undergone to reach it,

those to overcome before returning, were forgotten in their

unprecedented success. What neither Europeans, Americans, nor Asiatics

had been able to do, they had accomplished. Hence they were all ready

to listen to the doctor when he told them all that his inexhaustible

memory could recall about their position. It was with real enthusiasm

that he first proposed their captain's health.

[Illustration: "They were all ready to listen to the doctor."]

"To John Hatteras!" he said.

"To John Hatteras!" repeated the others.

"To the North Pole!" answered the captain, with a warmth that was

unusual in this man who was usually so self-restrained, but who now

was in a state of great nervous excitement. They touched glasses, and

the toasts were followed by earnest hand-shakings.

"It is," said the doctor, "the most important geographical fact of our

day! Who would have thought that this discovery would precede that of

the centre of Africa or Australia? Really, Hatteras, you are greater

than Livingstone, Burton, and Barth! All honor to you!"

"You are right, Doctor," said Altamont; "it would seem, from the

difficulty of the undertaking, that the Pole would be the last place

discovered. Whenever the government was absolutely determined to know

the middle of Africa, it would have succeeded at the cost of so many

men and so much money; but here nothing is less certain than success,

and there might be obstacles really insuperable."

"Insuperable!" cried Hatteras with warmth; "there are no insuperable

obstacles; there are more or less determined minds, that is all!"

"Well," said Johnson, "we are here, and it is well. But, Doctor, will

you tell me, once for all, what there is so remarkable about the

Pole?"

"It is this, Johnson, that it is the only motionless part of the

globe, while all the rest is turning with extreme rapidity."

"But I don't see that we are more motionless here than at Liverpool."

"No more than you perceive the motion at Liverpool; and that is

because in both cases you participate in the movement or the repose.

But the fact is no less certain. The earth rotates in twenty-four

hours, and this motion is on an axis with its extremities at the two

poles. Well, we are at one of the extremities of the axis, which is

necessarily motionless."

"So," said Bell, "when our countrymen are turning rapidly, we are

perfectly still?"

"Very nearly, for we are not exactly at the Pole."

"You are right, Doctor," said Hatteras seriously, and shaking his

head; "we are still forty-five seconds from the precise spot."

"That is not far," answered Altamont, "and we can consider ourselves

motionless."

"Yes," continued the doctor, "while those living at the equator move

at the rate of three hundred and ninety-six leagues an hour."

"And without getting tired!" said Bell.

"Exactly!" answered the doctor.

"But," continued Johnson, "besides this movement of rotation, doesn't

the earth also move about the sun?"

"Yes, and this takes a year."

"Is it swifter than the other?"

"Infinitely so; and I ought to say that, although we are at the Pole,

it takes us with it as well as all the people in the world. So our

pretended immobility is a chimera: we are motionless with regard to

the other points of the globe, but not so with regard to the sun."

"Good!" said Bell, with an accent of comic regret; "so I, who thought

I was still, was mistaken! This illusion has to be given up! One can't

have a moment's peace in this world."

"You are right, Bell," answered Johnson; "and will you tell us,

Doctor, how fast this motion is?"

"It is very fast," answered the doctor; "the earth moves around the

sun seventy-six times faster than a twenty-four-pound cannon-ball

flies, which goes one hundred and ninety-five fathoms a second. It

moves, then, seven leagues and six tenths per second; you see it is

very different from the diurnal movement of the equator."

"The deuce!" said Bell; "that is incredible, Doctor! More than seven

leagues a second, and that when it would have been so easy to be

motionless, if God had wished it!"

"Good!" said Altamont; "do you think so, Bell? In that case no more

night, nor spring, nor autumn, nor winter!"

"Without considering a still more terrible result," continued the

doctor.

"What is that?" asked Johnson.

"We should all fall into the sun!"

"Fall into the sun!" repeated Bell with surprise.

"Yes. If this motion were to stop, the earth would fall into the sun

in sixty-four days and a half."

"A fall of sixty-four days!" said Johnson.

"No more nor less," answered the doctor; "for it would have to fall a

distance of thirty-eight millions of leagues."

"What is the weight of the earth?" asked Altamont.

"It is five thousand eight hundred and ninety-one quadrillions of

tons."

"Good!" said Johnson; "those numbers have no meaning."

"For that reason, Johnson, I was going to give you two comparisons

which you could remember. Don't forget that it would take seventy-five

moons to make the sun, and three hundred and fifty thousand earths to

make up the weight of the sun."

"That is tremendous!" said Altamont.

"Tremendous is the word," answered the doctor; "but, to return to the

Pole, no lesson on cosmography on this part of the globe could be more

opportune, if it doesn't weary you."

"Go on, Doctor, go on!"

"I told you," resumed the doctor, who took as much pleasure in giving

as the others did in receiving instruction,--"I told you that the Pole

was motionless in comparison with the rest of the globe. Well, that is

not quite true!"

"What!" said Bell, "has that got to be taken back?"

"Yes, Bell, the Pole is not always exactly in the same place; formerly

the North Star was farther from the celestial pole than it is now. So

our Pole has a certain motion; it describes a circle in about

twenty-six years. That comes from the precession of the equinoxes, of

which I shall speak soon."

"But," asked Altamont, "might it not happen that some day the Pole

should get farther from its place?"

"Ah, my dear Altamont," answered the doctor, "you bring up there a

great question, which scientific men investigated for a long time in

consequence of a singular discovery."

"What was that?"

"This is it. In 1771 the body of a rhinoceros was found on the shore

of the Arctic Sea, and in 1799 that of an elephant on the coast of

Siberia. How did the animals of warm countries happen to be found in

these latitudes? Thereupon there was much commotion among geologists,

who were not so wise as a Frenchman, M. Elie de Beaumont, has been

since. He showed that these animals used to live in rather high

latitudes, and that the streams and rivers simply carried their bodies

to the places where they were found. But do you know the explanation

which scientific men gave before this one?"

"Scientific men are capable of anything," said Altamont.

"Yes, in explanation of a fact; well, they imagined that the Pole used

to be at the equator and the equator at the Pole."

"Bah!"

"It was exactly what I tell you. Now, if it had been so, since the

earth is flattened more than five leagues at the pole, the seas,

carried to the equator by centrifugal force, would have covered

mountains twice as high as the Himalayas; all the countries near the

polar circle, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Siberia, Greenland, and New

Britain, would have been buried in five leagues of water, while the

regions at the equator, having become the pole, would have formed

plateaus fifteen leagues high!"

"What a change!" said Johnson.

"O, that made no difference to scientific men!"

"And how did they explain the alteration?" asked Altamont.

"They said it was due to the shock of collision with a comet. The

comet is the _deus ex machina_; whenever one comes to a difficult

question in cosmography, a comet is lugged in. It is the most obliging

of the heavenly bodies, and at the least sign from a scientific man it

disarranges itself to arrange everything."

"Then," said Johnson, "according to you, Doctor, this change is

impossible?"

"Impossible!"

"And if it should take place?"

"If it did, the equator would be frozen in twenty-four hours!"

"Good! if it were to take place now," said Bell, "people would as

likely as not say we had never gone to the Pole."

"Calm yourself, Bell. To return to the immobility of the terrestrial

axis, the following is the result: if we were to spend a winter here,

we should see the stars describing a circle about us. As for the sun,

the day of the vernal equinox, March 23d, it would appear to us (I

take no account of refraction) exactly cut in two by the horizon, and

would rise gradually in longer and longer curves; but here it is

remarkable that when it has once risen it sets no more; it is visible

for six months. Then its disk touches the horizon again at the

autumnal equinox, September 22d, and as soon as it is set, it is seen

no more again all winter."

"You were speaking just now of the flattening of the earth at the

poles," said Johnson; "be good enough to explain that, Doctor."

"I will. Since the earth was fluid when first created, you understand

that its rotary movement would try to drive part of the mobile mass to

the equator, where the centrifugal force was greater. If the earth had

been motionless, it would have remained a perfect sphere; but in

consequence of the phenomenon I have just described, it has an

ellipsoidal form, and points at the pole are nearer the centre of the

earth than points at the equator by about five leagues."

"So," said Johnson, "if our captain wanted to take us to the centre of

the earth, we should have five leagues less to go?"

"Exactly, my friend."

"Well, Captain, it's so much gained! We ought to avail ourselves of

it."

But Hatteras did not answer. Evidently he had lost all interest in the

conversation, or perhaps he was listening without hearing.

"Well," answered the doctor, "according to certain scientific men, it

would be worth while to try this expedition."

"What! really?" exclaimed Johnson.

"But let me finish," answered the doctor. "I will tell you. I must

first tell you this flattening of the poles is the cause of the

precession of the equinoxes; that is to say, why every year the vernal

equinox comes a day sooner than it would if the earth were perfectly

round. This comes from the attraction of the sun operating in a

different way on the heaped-up land of the equator, which then

experiences a retrograde movement. Subsequently it displaces this Pole

a little, as I just said. But, independently of this effect, this

flattening ought to have a more curious and more personal effect,

which we should perceive if we had mathematical sensibility."

"What do you mean?" asked Bell.

"I mean that we are heavier here than at Liverpool."

"Heavier?"

"Yes; ourselves, the dogs, our guns, and instruments!"

"Is it possible?"

"Certainly, and for two reasons: the first is, that we are nearer the

centre of the globe, which consequently attracts us more strongly, and

this force of gravitation is nothing but weight; the second is, the

rotary force, which is nothing at the pole, is very marked at the

equator, and objects there have a tendency to fly from the earth: they

are less heavy."

"What!" exclaimed Johnson, seriously; "have we not the same weight

everywhere?"

"No, Johnson; according to Newton's law, bodies attract one another

directly as their masses, and inversely to the square of their

distances. Here I weigh more, because I am nearer the centre of

attraction; and on another planet I should weigh more or less

according to the mass of the planet."

"What!" said Bell, "in the moon--"

"In the moon my weight, which is two hundred pounds at Liverpool,

would be only thirty-two pounds."

"And in the sun?"

"O, in the sun I should weigh more than five thousand pounds!"

"Heavens!" said Bell; "you'd need a derrick to move your legs."

"Probably," answered the doctor, laughing at Bell's amazement; "but

here the difference is imperceptible, and by an equal effort of the

muscles Bell would leap as high as on the docks at Liverpool."

"Yes, but in the sun?" urged Bell.

"My friend," answered the doctor, "the upshot of it all is that we are

well off where we are, and need not want to go elsewhere."

"You said just now," resumed Altamont, "that perhaps it would be worth

while to make a journey to the centre of the world; has such an

undertaking ever been thought of?"

"Yes, and this is all I'm going to say about the Pole. There is no

point in the world which has given rise to more chimeras and

hypotheses. The ancients, in their ignorance, placed the garden of the

Hesperides there. In the Middle Ages it was supposed that the earth

was upheld on axles placed at the poles, on which it revolved; but

when comets were seen moving freely, that idea had to be given up.

Later, there was a French astronomer, Bailly, who said that the lost

people mentioned by Plato, the Atlantides, lived here. Finally, it has

been asserted in our own time that there was an immense opening at the

poles, from which came the Northern Lights, and through which one

could reach the inside of the earth; since in the hollow sphere two

planets, Pluto and Proserpine, were said to move, and the air was

luminous in consequence of the strong pressure it felt."

"That has been maintained?" asked Altamont.

"Yes, it has been written about seriously. Captain Symmes, a

countryman of ours, proposed to Sir Humphry Davy, Humboldt, and Arago,

to undertake the voyage! But they declined."

"And they did well."

"I think so. Whatever it may be, you see, my friends, that the

imagination has busied itself about the Pole, and that sooner or later

we must come to the reality."

"At any rate, we shall see for ourselves," said Johnson, who clung to

his idea.

"Then, to-morrow we'll start," said the doctor, smiling at seeing the

old sailor but half convinced; "and if there is any opening to the

centre of the earth, we shall go there together."

CHAPTER XXV.

MOUNT HATTERAS.

After this solid conversation every one made himself as comfortable as

possible in the cavern, and soon fell asleep. Every one, that is,

except Hatteras. Why did not this strange man sleep?

Was not the object of his life attained? Had he not accomplished the

bold projects which lay so near his heart? Why did not calmness

succeed the agitation in his ardent mind? Would not one suppose that,

when he had accomplished this end, Hatteras would fall into a sort of

dejection, and that his over-stretched nerves would seek repose? After

succeeding, it would seem natural that he should be seized with the

feeling of sadness, which always follows satisfied desires.

But no. He was only more excited. It was not, however, the thought of

returning which agitated him so. Did he wish to go farther? Was there

no limit to his ambition, and did he find the world too small, because

he had been around it? However this may have been, he could not sleep.

And yet this first night spent at the pole of the world was pleasant

and quiet. The island was absolutely uninhabited. There was not a bird

in its fire-impregnated atmosphere, not an animal on the soil of

cinders, not a fish in its boiling waters. Only afar off the dull

murmur of the mountain, from the summit of which arose puffs of hot

smoke.

When Bell, Johnson, Altamont, and the doctor awoke, Hatteras was not

to be seen near them. Being anxious, they left the cave, and saw the

captain standing on a rock. His eyes were fixed on the top of the

volcano. He held his instruments in his hands, having evidently been

calculating the exact height of the mountain. The doctor went up to

him and spoke to him several times before he could rouse him from his

revery. At last the captain seemed to understand him.

[Illustration: "They saw the captain standing on a rock."]

"Forward!" said the doctor, who was examining him

attentively,--"forward! let us explore our island; we are all ready

for our last excursion."

"Our last," said Hatteras, with the intonation of people who are

dreaming aloud; "yes, the last, indeed. But also," he continued with

great animation, "the most wonderful!"

He spoke in this way, rubbing his hands over his brow as if to allay

its throbbing. At that moment, Altamont, Johnson, and Bell joined him;

Hatteras appeared to awaken from his revery.

[Illustration: "Hatteras appeared to wake from his revery."]

"My friends," he said with emotion, "thanks for your courage, thanks

for your perseverance, thanks for your superhuman efforts, which have

allowed us to set foot on this land!"

"Captain!" said Johnson, "we have only obeyed; all the honor is due to

you alone!"

"No, no!" resumed Hatteras with emotion; "to you as much as to me! to

Altamont as well as to all of us! as to the doctor himself-- O, let my

heart well over in your hands! It can no longer restrain its joy and

gratitude!"

Hatteras clasped the hands of his companions. He walked to and fro, no

longer master of himself.

"We have only done our duty as Englishmen," said Bell.

"Our duty as friends," continued the doctor.

"Yes," said Hatteras, "but all have not performed this duty. Some have

given way! Still, they must be pardoned, both who were treacherous,

and those who were led away to it! Poor men! I forgive them. You

understand me, Doctor?"

"Yes," answered the doctor, who was very uneasy at Hatteras's

excitement.

"So," went on the captain, "I don't want them to lose the money they

came so far to seek. No, I shall not alter my plan; they shall be

rich,--if they ever see England again!"

Few could have withstood the tenderness with which Hatteras spoke

these last words.

"But, Captain," said Johnson, with an effort at pleasantry, "one would

say you were making your will."

"Perhaps I am," answered Hatteras, seriously.

"Still you have before you a long and glorious life," continued the

old sailor.

"Who can say?" said Hatteras.

A long silence followed these words. The doctor did not dare to try to

interpret the last remark. But Hatteras soon expressed his meaning,

for in a hasty, hardly restrained voice, he went on:--

"My friends, listen to me. We have done a good deal so far, and yet

there is a good deal to do."

His companions gazed at him in astonishment.

"Yes, we are on the land of the Pole, but we are not on the Pole

itself!"

"How so?" asked Altamont.

"You don't mean it!" cried the doctor, anxiously.

"Yes!" resumed Hatteras, earnestly, "I said that an Englishman should

set foot on the Pole; I said it, and an Englishman shall do it."

"What!" ejaculated the doctor.

"We are now forty-five seconds from the unknown point," Hatteras went

on, with increasing animation; "where it is, I am going!"

"But that is the top of the volcano!" said the doctor.

"I'm going!"

"It's an inaccessible spot!"

"I'm going!"

"It's a fiery crater!"

"I'm going!"

The firmness with which Hatteras uttered these words cannot be given.

His friends were stupefied; they gazed with horror at the volcano

tipped with flame. Then the doctor began; he urged and besought

Hatteras to give up his design; he said everything he could imagine,

from entreaty to well-meant threats; but he obtained no concession

from the nervous captain, who was possessed with a sort of madness

which may be called polar madness. Only violent means could stop him,

rushing to his ruin. But seeing that thereby they would produce

serious results, the doctor wished to keep them for a last resource.

He hoped, too, that some physical impossibility, some unsurmountable

difficulty, would compel him to give up his plan.

"Since it is so," he said, "we shall follow you."

"Yes," answered the captain, "half-way up the mountain! No farther!

Haven't you got to carry back to England the copy of the document

which proves our discovery, in case--"

"Still--"

"It is settled," said Hatteras, in a tone of command; "and since my

entreaties as a friend are not enough, I order it as captain."

The doctor was unwilling to urge him any further, and a few moments

later the little band, equipped for a hard climb, and preceded by

Duke, set out. The sky was perfectly clear. The thermometer stood at

52 degrees. The air had all the brilliancy which is so marked at this

high latitude. It was eight o'clock in the morning. Hatteras went

ahead with his dog, the others followed close behind.

"I'm anxious," said Johnson.

"No, no, there's nothing to fear," answered the doctor; "we are here."

It was a strange island, in appearance so new and singular! The

volcano did not seem old, and geologists would have ascribed a recent

date to its formation.

The rocks were heaped upon one another, and only kept in place by

almost miraculous balancing. The mountain, in fact, was composed of

nothing but stones that had fallen from above. There was no soil, no

moss, no lichen, no trace of vegetation. The carbonic acid from the

crater had not yet had time to unite with the hydrogen of the water;

nor the ammonia of the clouds, to form under the action of the light,

organized matter. This island had arisen from successive volcanic

eruptions, like many other mountains; what they have hurled forth has

built them up. For instance, Etna has poured forth a volume of lava

larger than itself; and the Monte Nuovo, near Naples, was formed by

ashes in the short space of forty-eight hours. The heap of rocks

composing Queen's Island had evidently come from the bowels of the

earth. Formerly the sea covered it all; it had been formed long since

by the condensation of the vapor on the cooling globe; but in

proportion as the volcanoes of the Old and New World disappeared, they

were replaced by new craters.

In fact, the earth can be compared to a vast spheroidal boiler. Under

the influence of the central fire an immense quantity of vapor is

generated, which is exposed to a pressure of thousands of atmospheres,

and which would blow up the globe, were it not for the safety-valves

opening on the outside.

These safety-valves are the volcanoes; when one closes, another opens;

and at the poles, where, doubtless in consequence of the flattening of

the earth's surface, the crust is thinner, it is not strange that a

volcano should be suddenly formed by the upheaval of the bottom of the

waves. The doctor noticed all this as he followed Hatteras; his foot

sank into a volcanic tufa, and the deposits of ashes, volcanic stones,

etc., like the syenite and granite of Iceland. But he attributed a

comparatively recent origin to the island, on account of the fact that

no sedimentary soil had yet formed upon it. Water, too, was lacking.

If Queen's Island had existed for several years, there would have been

springs upon it, as there are in the neighborhood of volcanoes. Now,

not only was there no drop of water there, but the vapors which arose

from the stream of lava seemed absolutely anhydrous.

This island, then, was of recent formation; and since it appeared in

one day, it might disappear in another and sink beneath the ocean.

The ascent grew more difficult the higher they went; the sides of the

mountain became nearly perpendicular, and they had to be very careful

to avoid accident. Often columns of cinders were blown about them and

threatened to choke them, or torrents of lava barred their path. On

some such places these streams were hard on top, but the molten stream

flowed beneath. Each one had to test it first to escape sinking into

the glowing mass. From time to time the crater vomited forth huge

red-hot rocks amid burning gases; some of these bodies burst in the

air like shells, and the fragments were hurled far off in all

directions. The innumerable dangers of this ascent may be readily

perceived, as well as the foolhardiness of the attempt.

Still, Hatteras climbed with wonderful agility, and while spurning the

use of his iron-tipped staff, he ascended the steepest slopes. He soon

reached a circular rock, which formed a sort of plateau about ten feet

broad; a glowing stream surrounded it, which was divided at the corner

by a higher rock, and left only a narrow passage through which

Hatteras slipped boldly. There he stopped, and his companions were

able to join him. Then he seemed to estimate the distance yet

remaining; horizontally there were only about six hundred feet of the

crater remaining, that is to say, from the mathematical point of the

Pole; but vertically they had fifteen hundred feet yet to climb. The

ascent had already taken three hours; Hatteras did not seem tired; his

companions were exhausted.

The top of the volcano seemed inaccessible. The doctor wished at any

risk to keep Hatteras from going higher. At first he tried gentle

means, but the captain's excitement amounted to delirium; on the way

he had exhibited all the signs of growing madness, and whoever has

known him in the different scenes of his life cannot be surprised. In

proportion as Hatteras rose above the ocean his excitement increased;

he lived no longer with men; he thought he was growing larger with the

mountain itself.

"Hatteras," said the doctor, "this is far enough! we can't go any

farther!"

"Stay where you are, then," answered the captain in a strange voice;

"I shall go higher!"

"No! that's useless! you are at the Pole here!"

"No, no, higher!"

"My friend, it's I who am speaking to you, Dr. Clawbonny! Don't you

know me?"

"Higher! higher!" repeated the madman.

"Well, no, we sha'n't let--"

The doctor had not finished the sentence before Hatteras, by a violent

effort, sprang over the stream of lava and was out of their reach.

They uttered a cry, thinking Hatteras was lost in the fiery abyss; but

he had reached the other side, followed by Duke, who was unwilling to

abandon him.

He disappeared behind a puff of smoke, and his voice was heard growing

fainter and fainter in the distance.

"To the north!" he was shouting, "to the top of Mount Hatteras! Do you

remember Mount Hatteras?"

They could not think of getting up to him; there were twenty chances

to one against their being able to cross the stream he had leaped over

with the skill and luck of madmen. Nor could they get around it.

Altamont in vain tried to pass; he was nearly lost in trying to cross

the stream of lava; his companions were obliged to hold him by force.

[Illustration]

"Hatteras, Hatteras!" shouted the doctor.

But the captain did not answer; Duke's barking alone was heard upon

the mountain.

Still, Hatteras could be seen at intervals through the column of smoke

and the showers of cinders. Sometimes his arm or head would emerge

from the whirlwind. Then he would disappear and be seen again higher

up in the rocks. His height diminished with the fantastic swiftness of

objects rising in the air. Half an hour later he seemed but a fraction

of his usual size.

The air was filled with the dull noises of the volcano; the mountain

was roaring like a boiler, its sides were quivering. Hatteras kept on,

and Duke followed. From time to time some enormous rock would give way

beneath them and go crashing down to the sea. But Hatteras did not

look back. He had made use of his staff as a pole on which to fasten

the English flag. His companions observed every one of his movements.

His dimensions became gradually smaller, and Duke seemed no larger

than a rat. One moment the wind seemed to drive down upon them a great

wave of flame. The doctor uttered a cry of anguish, but Hatteras

reappeared, standing and brandishing the flag.

[Illustration: "But Hatteras did not look back. He had made use of his

staff as a pole on which to fasten the English flag."]

This sight lasted for more than an hour,--an hour of struggle with the

trembling rocks, with the beds of ashes into which this madman would

sink up to the waist. Now he would be climbing on his knees and making

use of every inequality in the mountain, and now he would hang by his

hands at some sharp corner, swinging in the wind like a dry leaf.

At last he reached the top, the yawning mouth of the crater. The

doctor then hoped that the wretched man, having attained his object,

would perhaps return and have only those dangers before him.

He gave a last shout.

"Hatteras, Hatteras!"

The doctor's cry moved the American's heart so that he cried out,--

"I will save him!"

Then with one leap crossing the fiery torrent at the risk of falling

in, he disappeared among the rocks. Clawbonny did not have time to

stop him. Still, Hatteras, having reached the top, was climbing on top

of a rock which overhung the abyss. The stones were raining about him.

Duke was still following him. The poor beast seemed already dizzy at

the sight beneath him. Hatteras was whirling about his head the flag,

which was lighted with the brilliant reflection, and the red bunting

could be seen above the crater. With one hand Hatteras was holding it;

with the other he was pointing to the zenith, the celestial pole.

Still he seemed to hesitate. He was seeking the mathematical point

where all the meridians meet, and on which in his sublime obstinacy he

wanted to set his foot.

Suddenly the rock gave way beneath him. He disappeared. A terrible cry

from his companions rose even to the summit of the mountain. A

second--a century--passed! Clawbonny considered his friend lost and

buried forever in the depths of the volcano. But Altamont was there,

and Duke too. The man and the dog had seized him just when he was

disappearing in the abyss. Hatteras was saved, saved in spite of

himself, and half an hour later the captain of the _Forward_ lay

unconscious in the arms of his despairing friends.

When he came to himself, the doctor gave him a questioning glance in

mute agony. But his vague look, like that of a blind man, made no

reply.

"Heavens!" said Johnson, "he is blind!"

"No," answered Clawbonny,--"no! My poor friends, we have saved

Hatteras's body! His mind is at the top of the volcano! He has lost

his reason!"

"Mad?" cried Johnson and Altamont in deep distress.

"Mad!" answered the doctor.

And he wept bitterly.

CHAPTER XXVI.

RETURN TO THE SOUTH.

Three hours after this sad conclusion to the adventures of Captain

Hatteras, Clawbonny, Altamont, and the two sailors were assembled in

the cavern at the foot of the volcano. Then Clawbonny was asked to

give his opinion on what was to be done.

"My friends," he said, "we cannot prolong our stay at Queen's Island;

the sea is open before us; our provisions are sufficient; we must set

out and reach Fort Providence as soon as possible, and we can go into

winter-quarters till next summer."

"That is my opinion," said Altamont; "the wind is fair, and to-morrow

we shall set sail."

The day passed in great gloom. The captain's madness was a sad

foreboding, and when Johnson, Bell, and Altamont thought of their

return, they were afraid of their loneliness and remoteness. They felt

the need of Hatteras's bold soul. Still, like energetic men they made

ready for a new struggle with the elements, and with themselves, in

case they should feel themselves growing faint-hearted.

The next day, Saturday, July 13th, the camping materials were put on

the boat, and soon everything was ready for their departure. But

before leaving this rock forever, the doctor, following Hatteras's

intentions, put up a cairn at the place where the captain reached the

island; this cairn was built of large rocks laid on one another, so as

to form a perfectly visible landmark, if it were not destroyed by the

eruption.

[Illustration: "The doctor put up a cairn."]

On one of the lateral stones Bell carved with a chisel this simple

inscription:--

JOHN HATTERAS

1861.

A copy of the document was placed inside of the cairn in an

hermetically sealed tin cylinder, and the proof of this great

discovery was left here on these lonely rocks.

Then the four men and the captain,--a poor body without a mind,--and

his faithful Duke, sad and melancholy, got into the boat for the

return voyage. It was ten o'clock in the morning. A new sail was set

up with the canvas of the tent. The launch, sailing before the wind,

left Queen's Island, and that evening the doctor, standing on his

bench, waved a last farewell to Mount Hatteras, which was lighting up

the horizon.

Their voyage was very quick; the sea, which was always open, was easy

sailing, and it seemed really easier to go away from the Pole than to

approach it. But Hatteras was in no state to understand what was going

on about him; he lay at full length in the launch, his mouth closed,

his expression dull, and his arms folded. Duke lay at his feet. It was

in vain that the doctor questioned him. Hatteras did not hear him.

For forty-eight hours the breeze was fair and the sea smooth.

Clawbonny and his companions rejoiced in the north-wind. July 15th,

they made Altamont Harbor in the south; but since the Polar Ocean was

open all along the coast, instead of crossing New America by sledge,

they resolved to sail around it, and reach Victoria Bay by sea. This

voyage was quicker and easier. In fact, the space which had taken them

a fortnight on sledges took them hardly a week by sail; and after

following the rugged outline of the coast, which was fringed with

numerous fiords, and determining its shape, they reached Victoria Bay,

Monday evening, July 23d.

The launch was firmly anchored to the shore, and each one ran to Fort

Providence. The Doctor's House, the stores, the magazine, the

fortifications, all had melted in the sun, and the supplies had been

devoured by hungry beasts.

It was a sad sight.

They were nearly at the end of their supplies, and they had intended

to renew them at Fort Providence. The impossibility of passing the

winter there was evident. Like people accustomed to decide rapidly,

they determined to reach Baffin's Bay as soon as possible.

"We have nothing else to do," said the doctor; "Baffin's Bay is not

six hundred miles from here; we might sail as far as our launch would

carry us, reach Jones's Sound, and from there the Danish settlements."

"Yes," answered Altamont; "let us collect all the provisions we can,

and leave."

By strict search they found a few chests of pemmican here and there,

and two barrels of preserved meat, which had escaped destruction. In

short, they had a supply for six weeks, and powder enough. This was

promptly collected. The day was devoted to calking the launch,

repairing it, and the next day, July 24th, they put out to sea again.

The continent towards latitude 83 degrees inclined towards the east.

It was possible that it joined the countries known under the name of

Grinnell Land, Ellesmere, and North Lincoln, which form the coast-line

of Baffin's Bay. They could then hold it for certain that Jones's

Sound opened in the inner seas, like Lancaster Sound. The launch then

sailed without much difficulty, easily avoiding the floating ice. The

doctor, by way of precaution against possible delay, put them all on

half-rations; but this did not trouble them much, and their health was

unimpaired.

Besides, they were able to shoot occasionally; they killed ducks,

geese, and other game, which gave them fresh and wholesome food. As

for their drink, they had a full supply from the floating ice, which

they met on the way, for they took care not to go far from the coast,

the launch being too small for the open sea.

At this period of the year the thermometer was already, for the

greater part of time, beneath the freezing-point; after a certain

amount of rainy weather snow began to fall, with other signs of the

end of summer; the sun sank nearer the horizon, and more and more of

its disk sank beneath it every day. July 30th they saw it disappear

for the first time, that is to say, they had a few minutes of night.

Still, the launch sailed well, sometimes making from sixty to

seventy-five miles a day; they did not stop a moment; they knew what

fatigues to endure, what obstacles to surmount; the way by land was

before them, if they had to take it, and these confined seas must soon

be closed; indeed, the young ice was already forming here and there.

Winter suddenly succeeds summer in these latitudes; there are no

intermediate seasons; no spring, no autumn. So they had to hurry. July

31st, the sky being clear at sunset, the first stars were seen in the

constellations overhead. From this day on there was perpetual mist,

which interfered very much with their sailing. The doctor, when he saw

all the signs of winter's approach, became very uneasy; he knew the

difficulties Sir John Ross had found in getting to Baffin's Bay, after

leaving his ship; and indeed, having once tried to pass the ice, he

was obliged to return to his ship, and go into winter-quarters for the

fourth year; but he had at least a shelter against the weather, food,

and fuel. If such a misfortune were to befall the survivors of the

_Forward_, if they had to stop or put back, they were lost; the doctor

did not express his uneasiness to his companions; but he urged them to

get as far eastward as possible.

[Illustration]

Finally, August 15th, after thirty days of rather good sailing, after

struggling for forty-eight hours against the ice, which was

accumulating, after having imperilled their little launch a hundred

times, they saw themselves absolutely stopped, unable to go farther;

the sea was all frozen, and the thermometer marked on an average +15

degrees. Moreover, in all the north and east it was easy to detect the

nearness of land, by the presence of pebbles; frozen fresh water was

found more frequently. Altamont made an observation with great

exactness, and found they were in latitude 77 degrees 15 minutes, and

longitude 85 degrees 2 minutes.

"So, then," said the doctor, "this is our exact position; we have

reached North Lincoln, exactly at Cape Eden; we are entering Jones's

Sound; if we had been a little luckier, we should have found the sea

open to Baffin's Bay. But we need not complain. If my poor Hatteras

had at first found so open a sea, he would have soon reached the Pole,

his companions would not have deserted him, and he would not have lost

his reason under his terrible sufferings!"

"Then," said Altamont, "we have only one course to follow; to abandon

the launch, and get to the east coast of Lincoln by sledge."

"Abandon the launch and take the sledge? Well," answered the doctor;

"but instead of crossing Lincoln, I propose going through Jones's

Sound on the ice, and reaching North Devon."

"And why?" asked Altamont.

"Because we should get nearer to Lancaster Sound, and have more chance

of meeting whalers."

"You are right, Doctor, but I am afraid the ice is not yet hard

enough."

"We can try," said Clawbonny.

The launch was unloaded; Bell and Johnson put the sledge together; all

its parts were in good condition. The next day the dogs were harnessed

in, and they went along the coast to reach the ice-field.

Then they began again the journey which has been so often described;

it was tiresome and slow; Altamont was right in doubting the strength

of the ice; they could not go through Jones's Sound, and they had to

follow the coast of Lincoln.

August 21st they turned to one side and reached the entrance of

Glacier Sound; then they ventured upon the ice-field, and the next day

they reached Cobourg Island, which they crossed in less than two days

amid snow-squalls. They could advance more easily on the ice-fields,

and at last, August 24th, they set foot on North Devon.

"Now," said the doctor, "we have only to cross this, and reach Cape

Warender, at the entrance of Lancaster Sound."

But the weather became very cold and unpleasant; the snow-squalls

became as violent as in winter; they all found themselves nearly

exhausted. Their provisions were giving out, and each man had but a

third of a ration, in order to allow to the dogs enough food in

proportion to their work.

The nature of the ground added much to the fatigue of the journey;

North Devon was far from level; they had to cross the Trauter

Mountains by almost impassable ravines, struggling against all the

fury of the elements. The sledge, men, and dogs had to rest, and more

than once despair seized the little band, hardened as it was to the

fatigues of a polar journey. But, without their noticing it, these

poor men were nearly worn out, physically and morally; they could not

support such incessant fatigue for eighteen months with impunity, nor

such a succession of hopes and despairs. Besides, it should be borne

in mind that they went forward with enthusiasm and conviction, which

they lacked when returning. So they with difficulty dragged on; they

walked almost from habit, with the animal energy left almost

independent of their will.

It was not until August 30th that they at last left the chaos of

mountains, of which one can form no idea from the mountains of lower

zones, but they left it half dead. The doctor could no longer cheer up

his companions, and he felt himself breaking down. The Trauter

Mountains ended in a sort of rugged plain, heaped up at the time of

the formation of the mountains. There they were compelled to take a

few days of rest; the men could not set one foot before another; two

of the dogs had died of exhaustion. They sheltered themselves behind a

piece of ice, at a temperature of -2 degrees; no one dared put up the

tent. Their food had become very scanty, and, in spite of their

extreme economy with their rations, they had a supply for but a week

more; game became rarer, having left for a milder climate. Starvation

threatened these exhausted men.

[Illustration]

Altamont, who all along had shown great devotion and unselfishness,

took advantage of the strength he had left, and resolved to procure by

hunting some food for his companions. He took his gun, called Duke,

and strode off for the plains to the north; the doctor, Johnson, and

Bell saw him go away without much interest. For an hour they did not

once hear his gun, and they saw him returning without firing a single

shot; but he was running as if in great alarm.

"What is the matter?" asked the doctor.

"There! under the snow!" answered Altamont in great alarm, indicating

a point in the horizon.

"What?"

"A whole band of men--"

"Alive?"

"Dead,--frozen,--and even--"

[Illustration: "Dead--frozen."]

The American durst not finish his sentence, but his face expressed

clearly his horror. The doctor, Johnson, Bell, aroused by this

incident, were able to rise, and drag themselves along in Altamont's

footprints to the part of the plain to which he had pointed. They soon

reached a narrow space, at the bottom of a deep ravine, and there a

terrible sight met their eyes.

Bodies were lying half buried beneath the snow; here an arm, there a

leg, or clinched hands, and faces still preserving an expression of

despair.

The doctor drew near; then he stepped back, pale and agitated, while

Duke barked mournfully.

"Horror!" he said.

"Well?" asked the boatswain.

"Didn't you recognize them?" said the doctor in a strange voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Look!"

This ravine had been the scene of the last struggle between the men

and the climate, despair, and hunger, for from some horrible signs it

was easy to see that they had been obliged to eat human flesh. Among

them the doctor had recognized Shandon, Pen, and the wretched crew of

the _Forward_; their strength and food had failed them; their launch

had probably been crushed by an avalanche, or carried into some

ravine, and they could not take to the open sea; probably they were

lost among these unknown continents. Besides, men who had left in

mutiny could not long be united with the closeness which is necessary

for the accomplishment of great things. A ringleader of a revolt has

never more than a doubtful authority in his hands. And, without doubt,

Shandon was promptly deposed.

However that may have been, the crew had evidently undergone a

thousand tortures, a thousand despairs, to end with this terrible

catastrophe; but the secret of their sufferings is forever buried

beneath the arctic snows.

"Let us flee!" cried the doctor.

And he dragged his companions far from the scene of the disaster.

Horror lent them momentary strength. They set out again.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CONCLUSION.

Why linger over the perpetual sufferings of the survivors? They

themselves could never recall to their memory a clear vision of what

had happened in the week after their horrible discovery of the remains

of the crew. However, September 9th, by a miracle of energy, they

reached Cape Horsburgh, at the end of North Devon.

They were dying of hunger; they had not eaten for forty-eight hours,

and their last meal had been the flesh of their last Esquimaux dog.

Bell could go no farther, and old Johnson felt ready to die. They were

on the shore of Baffin's Bay, on the way to Europe. Three miles from

land the waves were breaking on the edges of the ice-field. They had

to await the uncertain passage of a whaler, and how many days yet?

But Heaven took pity on them, for the next day Altamont clearly saw a

sail. The anguish which follows such an appearance of a sail, the

tortures of disappointment, are well known. The ship seemed to

approach and then to recede. Terrible are the alternations of hope and

despair, and too often at the moment the castaways consider themselves

saved the sail sinks beneath the horizon.

[Illustration]

The doctor and his companions went through all these emotions; they

had reached the western limit of the ice-field, and yet they saw the

ship disappear, taking no note of their presence. They shouted, but in

vain.

Then the doctor had a last inspiration of that busy mind which had

served him in such good stead.

A floe had drifted against the ice-field.

"That floe!" he said, pointing to it.

They did not catch his meaning.

"Let us get on it!" he cried.

They saw his plan at once.

"Ah, Clawbonny, Dr. Clawbonny!" cried Johnson, kissing the doctor's

hands.

Bell, with Altamont's aid, ran to the sledge; he brought one of the

uprights, stood it up on the floe for a mast, making it fast with

ropes; the tent was torn up for a sail. The wind was fair; the poor

castaways put out to sea on this frail raft.

Two hours later, after unheard-of efforts, the last men of the

_Forward_ were taken aboard the Danish whaler _Hans Christian_, which

was sailing to Davis Strait. The captain received kindly these

spectres who had lost their semblance to human beings; when he saw

their sufferings he understood their history; he gave them every

attention, and managed to save their lives. Ten days later, Clawbonny,

Johnson, Bell, Altamont, and Captain Hatteras landed at Korsoeur, in

Zeeland, in Denmark; a steamboat carried them to Kiel; thence, _via_

Altona and Hamburg, they reached London the 13th of the same month,

hardly recovered from their long sufferings.

[Illustration: "Two hours later, after unheard-of efforts, the last

men of the _Forward_ were taken aboard the Danish whaler _Hans

Christian_."]

[Illustration: "A steamboat carried them to Kiel."]

The first thought of the doctor was to ask permission of the Royal

Geographical Society of London to lay a communication before it; he

was admitted to the meeting of July 15th. The astonishment of the

learned assembly, and its enthusiastic cheers after reading Hatteras's

document, may be imagined.

This journey, the only one of its kind, went over all the discoveries

that had been made in the regions about the Pole; it brought together

the expeditions of Parry, Ross, Franklin, MacClure; it completed the

chart between the one hundredth and one hundred and fifteenth

meridians; and, finally, it ended with the point of the globe hitherto

inaccessible, with the Pole itself.

Never had news so unexpected burst upon astonished England.

The English take great interest in geographical facts; they are proud

of them, lord and cockney, from the merchant prince to the workman in

the docks.

The news of this great discovery was telegraphed over the United

Kingdom with great rapidity; the papers printed the name of Hatteras

at the head of their columns as that of a martyr, and England glowed

with pride.

The doctor and his companions were feasted everywhere; they were

formally presented to her Majesty by the Lord High Chancellor.

The government confirmed the name of Queen's Island for the rock at

the North Pole, of Mount Hatteras for the mountain itself, and of

Altamont Harbor for the port in New America.

Altamont did not part from those whose misery and glory he had shared,

and who were now his friends. He followed the doctor, Johnson, and

Bell to Liverpool, where they were warmly received, after they had

been thought to be long dead, and buried in the eternal ice.

But Dr. Clawbonny always gave the glory to the man who most deserved

it. In his account of the journey entitled "The English at the North

Pole," published the next year by the Royal Geographical Society, he

made John Hatteras equal to the greatest explorers, the rival of those

bold men who sacrifice everything to science.

But the sad victim of a lofty passion lived peacefully at the asylum

of Starr Cottage near Liverpool, where the doctor had placed him. His

madness was of a gentle kind, but he never spoke, he understood

nothing, his power of speech seemed to have gone with his reason. A

single feeling seemed to unite him to the outer world, his love for

Duke, who was not separated from him.

This disease, this "polar madness," pursued its course quietly,

presenting no particular symptom, when Dr. Clawbonny, who often

visited his poor patient, was struck by his singular manner.

For some time Captain Hatteras, followed by his faithful dog, that

used to gaze at him sadly, would walk for hours every day; but he

always walked in one way, in the direction of a certain path. When he

had reached the end, he would return, walking backwards. If any one

stopped him, he would point his finger at a portion of the sky. If any

one tried to make him turn round, he grew angry, and Duke would show

his anger and bark furiously.

The doctor observed carefully this odd mania; he understood the motive

of this strange obstinacy; he guessed the reason of this walk always

in the same direction, and, so to speak, under the influence of a

magnetic force.

Captain John Hatteras was always walking towards the north.

FINIS.

University Press, Cambridge: Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.

Transcriber's notes on inconsistencies, errors and corrections.

Table of Contents: Part II., Chapter X., "The Pleasure of

Winter-Quarters" is corrected to "The Pleasures of Winter-Quarters" to

match the chapter title.

Part I.

Chapter 2: The letter says the large Danish dog will arrive on the

15th of February. In chapter 3 the dog arrives on the 15th of March

"as the captain's letter had said." Other versions have the same

inconsistency.

Chapter 5: In the discussion of steamers, the doctor observes of the

_Fox_ that MacClintock "succeeded in making his way more easily and

more directly than all his successors." Other translations say

"predecessors" which makes more sense.

Chapter 5: On April 14 the longitude given is 22 degrees 37 minutes.

Other versions give 22 degrees 58 minutes. Other versions agree that

the latitude is 51 degrees--which hardly seems possible for a ship

leaving Ireland at nearly 56 degrees latitude and sailing northwest.

57 degrees seems more likely. A few days later the latitude is further

confused during the discussion of iceberg sightings. The doctor states

that they are two degrees further north than a sighting of icebergs

occurring at 42 degrees latitude, apparently confusing the _Forward's_

latitude with that of the _Ann Poole_.

Chapter 6: In the remembrance of Parry's expedition into Lancaster

Sound, mention is made of the prize for crossing a meridian at higher

than the seventy-seventh parallel. Here the specific meridian is left

out, which is not very informative. In the French version, it is the

170th meridian, which is clearly wrong. The Ward and Lock translation

changes it to the 117th meridian. Historically, the prize was for the

110th meridian.

Chapter 8: On Saturday, the temperature is stated to have fallen to 8

degrees above zero. The French and Routledge translation state 8

degrees below zero. This makes more sense since the previous

temperature cited, from which it had fallen, was 6 degrees above zero.

Chapter 8: The block of ice which turns upside down is stated to be

800 feet high. This appears to be a mistranslation of the French;

other translations have it as at least a hundred feet high.

Chapter 9: According to this translation, the _Forward_ crosses the

62nd parallel on May 5. This is clearly incorrect since the ship is

north of its May 1 latitude of 68 degrees. Other versions have this as

the 72nd parallel. This agrees with the accompanying map.

Chapter 10: Although "the Governor was born on the island of Disco,

and he has never left the place," the landing party meets him at

Upernavik which is well north of the island of Disco.

Chapter 12: The captain declares their latitude to be at 72 degrees

when they are actually at 74 degrees. The promise of 1000 pounds for

each degree beyond 72 is continued throughout the book.

Chapter 12: Names of several English explorers have been garbled in

this translation:

"Stuart" = Charles Sturt

"McDougall Stuart" = John McDouall Stuart

"Wells" = William John Wills

"Havnoan" = ??--Haouran (French version) is a place in Syria.

Chapter 15: "During the day two whalers were seen making toward the

south;" should be "During the day two whales were seen" etc. to agree

with other translations and the French version. Finding whalers in

this area would contradict the spirit of the adventure.

Chapter 16: "the barometer fell to 29 degrees" should be "the

barometer fell to 29 inches" to agree with the French version and the

measurement scale of barometers.

Chapter 16: "Friday, June 7th" should be "Friday, June 8th" to agree

with the French version and the timing since the previous date of June

6.

Chapter 16: "found a declination of only 89 degrees 50 minutes,"

should be "89 degrees 59 minutes'" to agree with other translations

and the French version and to make sense of the following statement of

being within a minute of the magnetic pole.

Chapter 18: "'The way west is easier than the way north.'" agrees with

the French, but has been changed to "'The way east'" in other

translations. Baffin's Bay is, in fact, east of Melville Bay.

Chapter 18: Clifton's counting of the crew at sixteen is faulty since

Garry turned into Hatteras and would no longer be counted. The per

degree rate should be 62 pounds not 72 pounds to agree with all other

versions and actual calculation.

Chapter 18: On June 19th, Point Minto is said by all versions to be at

72 degrees latitude. It is actually at 73 degrees. The next paragraph

immediately proceeds to 74 degrees latitude at Melville Bay.

Chapter 20: Creswell's march to Beechey Island was 470 miles in the

French version and in later discussions in Part II, Chapter 15.

Chapter 21: The year of Lieutenant Bellot's first expedition in search

of Franklin is corrected from "18 0" to "1850."

Chapter 23: The large white masses gathering "indicated an approaching

thaw" is translated in another version as "an approaching frost" which

agrees with the French version and makes more sense.

Chapter 25: Clifton's anticipated fortune is said to be

"hardly-earned" when "hard-earned" would be more appropriate.

Chapter 29: The temperature on January 15 of -22 should be -32 degrees

to agree with the French version and the other translations.

Chapter 31: The doctor's ophthalmia should not lead to "deafness" but

to "blindness" as in other translations.

Chapter 33: In the final sentence of the chapter the latitude of the

_Forward_ should be "eightieth degree" not "eighty-fourth degree."

Eighty-fourth is clearly wrong since in chapter 2 of part II, their

latitude is stated as eighty degrees fifteen minutes.

Part II.

Chapter 1: The count of "eighteen men who had sailed in the brig"

continues to ignore that there were only seventeen men and that

Hatteras and Garry are one and the same person.

Chapter 2: Johnson's question, "how far are we from the nearest sea to

the west?" should be "how far are we from the nearest sea to the

east?" The disorientation continues with Bell's suggestion to travel

south or west. Baffin's Bay, the only place they can hope for rescue

is south and east of their current position.

Chapter 3: The date of the day the doctor killed the seal is stated as

the 18th and should be the 15th. The date mentioned two paragraphs

previously was the 14th, and the date mentioned as the next day in the

next paragraph is the 16th.

Chapter 5: "Hatteras loaded the gun with the last charge of powder"

should be "the doctor loaded the gun with the last charge of powder"

to agree with the French and the sense of the paragraph.

Chapter 5: Altamont comments that his ship is less than four degrees

from the Pole when it actually is not, but is within seven degrees.

Chapter 9: The author's intention for the outside temperature here is

uncertain. The -31 degrees of this translation does not agree with the

French in which it is -73 degrees (-31 degrees Centigrade). The latter

two are not equivalent temperatures. Later in this chapter it is

stated that the outside temperature can never exist lower than -72

degrees. If the author intended -31 degrees Centigrade, this would

convert to -24 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chapter 9: "The temperature of Englishmen is generally 101 degrees" is

a incorrect conversion of the more accurate 37 degrees Celsius in the

French version. The correct temperature should be 98.6 degrees.

Chapter 9: The mention of "Hadley" concerning a comet collision should

be "Halley" as in the French version.

Chapter 19: "_Uredo vivalis_" should be "_Uredo nivalis_" as in the

French version.

Chapter 20: In this translation as in the French version, Altamont

Harbor is said to be at longitude 118 degrees 35 minutes E. of

Greenwich, whereas it should be W. of Greenwich.

Chapter 22: The spelling of the name "Penn" is corrected to "Pen" as a

typographical error.

Chapter 23: "With a scrap of wood to hold him up," should be "without

a scrap of wood to hold him up," as found in the French version and

required by the sense of the sentence.

Chapter 23: The doctor "uttered an explanation which it is impossible

to render," should be "uttered an exclamation which it is impossible

to render," as found in the French version and required by the sense

of the sentence.

Chapter 24: The doctors comparison "it would take seventy-five moons

to make the sun," should be "it would take seventy-five moons to make

the earth," as in the French version.

Chapter 24: The motion of the Pole "describes a circle in about

twenty-six years" should be "describes a circle in about twenty-six

thousand years" as in the French version.

Chapter 26: "The American durst not not finish his sentence," is

corrected to "The American durst not finish his sentence," as a

typographical error.

Chapter 26: The spelling of the name "Penn" is corrected to "Pen" as a

typographical error.

Chapter 27: The timeline of the concluding chapter is odd. September

9, 1861 the party is at the end of North Devon. The next day

(September 10) they are picked up by the Danish whaler. Ten days later

(September 20) they arrive in Denmark. The 13th of the same month

(September 13? October 13?) they reach London. July 15 (1862?)

Clawbonny attends the Royal Geographical Society of London meeting.

For this to astonish the learned assembly it would need to be two days

after their arrival in London rather than 9 months.