hrough the open doorway of a large boat-house
on the shore--one of the buildings attached to a fishing-station on the
coast of the island.

The only person in the boat-house at this moment is a man in the dress
of a sailor. He is seated on a chest, with a piece of cord in his hand,
looking out idly at the sea. On the rough carpenter's table near him
lies a strange object to be left in such a place--a woman's veil.

What is the vessel lying at anchor in the offing?

The vessel is the _Amazon_--dispatched from England to receive the
surviving officers and men of the Arctic Expedition. The meeting has
been successfully effected, on the shores of North America, three days
since. But the homeward voyage has been delayed by a storm which has
driven the ship out of her course. Taking advantage, on the third day,
of the first returning calm, the commander of the _Amazon_ has anchored
off the coast of Newfoundland, and has sent ashore to increase his
supplies of water before he sails for England. The weary passengers have
landed for a few hours, to refresh themselves after the discomforts of
the tempest. Among them are the two ladies. The veil left on the table
in the boat-house is Clara's veil.

And who is the man sitting on the chest, with the cord in his hand,
looking out idly at the sea? The man is the only cheerful person in the
ship's company. In other words--John Want.

Still reposing on the chest, our friend, who never grumbles, is
surprised by the sudden appearance of a sailor at the boat-house door.

"Look sharp with your work there, John Want!" says the sailor.
"Lieutenant Crayford is just coming in to look after you."

With this warning the messenger disappears again. John Want rises with
a groan, turns the chest up on one end, and begins to fasten the cord
round it. The ship's cook is not a man to look back on his rescue with
the feeling of unmitigated satisfaction which animates his companions
in trouble. On the contrary, he is ungratefully disposed to regret the
North Pole.

"If I had only known"--thus runs the train of thought in the mind of
John Want--"if I had only known, before I was rescued, that I was to be
brought to this place, I believe I should have preferred staying at the
North Pole. I was very happy keeping up everybody's spirits at the
North Pole. Taking one thing with another, I think I must have been very
comfortable at the North Pole--if I had only known it. Another man in
my place might