ch so
many gallant lives had been sacrificed. Far to the eastward was Asia;
in the distant west lay America, and southward were Europe and
Africa. Such an experience may occur once in a lifetime, but rarely
can it be repeated. The surface of the cliff, which is quite level
where we stood (near the base of the small granite column erected to
commemorate the visit of Oscar II. in 1873), was covered by soft
reindeer moss, which yielded to the tread like a rich carpet of
velvet. There was no other vegetation near, not even a spear of
grass; though as we climbed the steep path hither occasional bits of
pea-green moss were seen, with a minute pink blossom peeping out here
and there from the rubble-stones. Presently the boom of a distant gun
floated faintly upwards. It was the cautionary signal from the ship,
which was now seen floating far below us, a mere speck upon that
Polar sea.

The hands of the watch indicated that it was near the hour of twelve,
midnight. The great luminary had sunk slowly amid a glory of light to
within three degrees of the horizon, where it seemed to hover for a
single moment like some monster bird about to alight upon a mountain
peak, and then changing its mind, slowly began its upward movement.
This was exactly at midnight, always a solemn hour; but amid the
glare of sunlight and the glowing immensity of sea and sky, how
strange and weird it seemed!

Notwithstanding they were so closely mingled, the difference between
the gorgeous coloring of the setting and the fresh hues of the rising
sun was clearly though delicately defined. Indeed, the sun had not
really set at all. It had been constantly visible, though it seemed
to shine for a few moments with slightly diminished power. Still, the
human eye could not rest upon it for one instant. It was the mingling
of the golden haze of evening with the radiant, roseate flush of the
blushing morn. At the point where sky and ocean met there was left a
boreal azure resembling the steel-white of the diamond; this was
succeeded by pearly gray, until the horizon became wavy with lines of
blue, like the delicate figures wrought upon a Toledo blade. In the
Yellow Sea the author has seen a more vivid sunset, combining the
volcanic effects of lurid light; but it lacked the sublime,
mysterious, mingled glory of evening and morning twilight which
characterized this wondrous view of the Arctic midnight sun.

CHAPTER X.

Journey Across Country. -- Capital