Operations now commenced for preparing proper winter quarters. Spaniards
and Russians alike joined heartily in the work, the diminution of
atmospheric pressure and of the force of attraction contributing such
an increase to their muscular force as materially facilitated all their
labors.

The first business was to accommodate the building adjacent to the
gourbi to the wants of the little colony. Here for the present the
Spaniards were lodged, the Russians retaining their berths upon the
yacht, while the Jew was permitted to pass his nights upon the _Hansa_.
This arrangement, however, could be only temporary. The time could not
be far distant when ships' sides and ordinary walls would fail to
give an adequate protection from the severity of the cold that must
be expected; the stock of fuel was too limited to keep up a permanent
supply of heat in their present quarters, and consequently they must
be driven to seek some other refuge, the internal temperature of which
would at least be bearable.

The plan that seemed to commend itself most to their consideration was,
that they should dig out for themselves some subterraneous pits similar
to "silos," such as are used as receptacles for grain. They presumed
that when the surface of Gallia should be covered by a thick layer of
ice, which is a bad conductor of heat, a sufficient amount of warmth
for animal vitality might still be retained in excavations of this kind.
After a long consultation they failed to devise any better expedient,
and were forced to resign themselves to this species of troglodyte
existence.

In one respect they congratulated themselves that they should be better
off than many of the whalers in the polar seas, for as it is impossible
to get below the surface of a frozen ocean, these adventurers have to
seek refuge in huts of wood and snow erected on their ships, which at
best can give but slight protection from extreme cold; but here, with a
solid subsoil, the Gallians might hope to dig down a hundred feet or so
and secure for themselves a shelter that would enable them to brave the
hardest severity of climate.

The order, then, was at once given. The work was commenced. A stock of
shovels, mattocks, and pick-axes was brought from the gourbi, and with
Ben Zoof as overseer, both Spanish majos and Russian sailors set to work
with a will.

It was not long, however, before a discovery, more unexpected than
agreeable, suddenly arrested their labors. The sp