ing they might possibly mark cairns or places of deposit inclosing
the records of some long-lost expedition, they resolved to stop and
institute a thorough examination.

They were fortunate enough to find a smooth and level spot suitable for
grounding the _Flying Fish_ upon, at a distance of barely a quarter of a
mile from the objects of their interest; and it being by that time six
o'clock in the evening, and too late to do any good before dinner, they
secured the ship there for the night--taking the precaution of fully
weighting her down with compressed air in addition to mooring her firmly
to the ice by her four grip-anchors. It was a most happy inspiration
which impelled them to take this precaution; for when they arose next
morning a terrific gale from the northward was blowing, accompanied by a
heavy ceaseless fall of snow; and, well secured as the ship was both by
her weight and by her anchors, she fairly trembled at times with the
violence of the blast. Had she been dependent only upon her anchors and
her own unassisted weight--which the reader will remember was very
trifling notwithstanding her immense dimensions--she would infallibly
have been whirled away like a bubble upon the wings of the gale. The
highly-compressed air, however, held her securely down upon her icy bed,
and, beyond imparting an occasional tremor, as already mentioned, the
tempest, fierce as it was, had no power to move her.

In such terrible weather it was of course useless to think of pursuing
their investigations; it would, indeed, have been the sheerest madness
to have attempted to face the furious gale, with its deadly cold and the
blinding whirling snow. The travellers were therefore compelled to
spend an inactive day. For this, however, they were by no means sorry;
they had been keeping rather late hours since entering the Arctic
circle, and this interval of inaction afforded them an opportunity of
securing their arrears of rest. Besides this there were sketches to
complete, and a thousand little odd matters to attend to--to such an
extent, indeed, that when they once began work they wondered at their
own thoughtlessness in not having attended to them before. Thus
employed, with occasional interludes of meditative gazing out upon the
ceaseless whirling rush of the snow, the day passed rapidly and
pleasantly away, wound up by an hour or two of vocal and instrumental
music after dinner. They retired early to their warm comfortab