d Ellice," cried Fred himself, joining the group; "I'll go
with you if you'll take me."

"Most happy to have you, sir. Our healthy hands are very short, but we
can muster sufficient, I think."

The captain suggested Amos Parr and two or three more men, and then
dismissed his first mate to get ready for an immediate start.

"I don't half like your going, Fred," said his father. "You've not been
well lately, and hunting on the floes, I know from experience, is hard
work."

"Don't fear for me, father; I've quite recovered from my recent attack,
which was but slight after all, and I know full well that those who are
well must work as long as they can stand."

"Ho, lads! look alive there! are you ready?" shouted the first mate down
the hatchway.

"Ay, ay, sir," replied Grim, and in a few minutes the party were
assembled on the ice beside the small sledge with their shoulder-belts
on, for most of the dogs were either dead or dying of that strange
complaint to which allusion has been made in a previous chapter.

They set out silently, but ere they had got a dozen yards from the ship
Captain Guy felt the impropriety of permitting them thus to depart.

"Up, lads, and give them three cheers!" he cried, mounting the ship's
side and setting the example.

A hearty, generous spirit, when vigorously displayed, always finds a
ready response from human hearts. The few sailors who were on deck at
the time, and one or two of the sick men who chanced to put their heads
up the hatchway, rushed to the side, waved their mittens--in default of
caps--and gave vent to three hearty British cheers. The effect on the
drooping spirits of the hunting-party was electrical. They pricked up
like chargers that had felt the spur, wheeled round, and returned the
cheer with interest. It was an apparently trifling incident, but it
served to lighten the way and make it seem less dreary for many a long
mile.

"I'm tired of it intirely," cried O'Riley, sitting down on a hummock, on
the evening of the second day after setting out on the hunt; "here we
is, two days out, an' not a sign o' life nowhere."

"Come, don't give in," said Bolton cheerfully; "we're sure to fall in
with a walrus to-day."

"I think so," cried Fred; "we have come so far out upon the floes that
there must be open water near."

"Come on, then," cried Peter Grim; "don't waste time talking."

Thus urged O'Riley rose, and throwing his sledge-strap over his
shoulder, plodded on w