were, much to our
disappointment, compelled to stay on board. Mr Johnson also remained
on board.

"I take it as an especial compliment," he observed. "The fact is, you
see, Mr Merry, that I am worth five or six men at least in the ship,
and, in appearance at least, little more than one out of it, and so I am
doomed to remain, while others are enjoying themselves on terra firma."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

In consequence of so many of the officers being on shore, the boatswain
had charge of a watch. He trod the deck with considerable dignity, and
a stranger coming on board would undoubtedly have taken him for the
captain.

I was in his watch, and as there was nothing to do, when it occurred at
night, except to see that the sentries were on the look-out, that the
anchors were not dragging, or the ship on fire, I always got him into
conversation; and one evening, Grey and Spellman having joined us, we
begged him to go on with the account of his adventures at the North
Pole, of which for a long time we had heard nothing.

"I would oblige you with all my heart, young gentlemen, if I could but
recollect where I left off," he answered, in a well-pleased tone. "Let
me see. Was I living on the top of an iceberg, or dancing reels with
polar bears, or--"

"No, Mr Johnson, you had just found your old shipmates, and were living
quietly with them in their winter quarters, waiting for a ship to take
you off."

"So I was--ah--well--" said the boatswain. "As I was telling you, when
I last broke off in my most veracious narrative, after we had talked on
for a week, our tongues began to get somewhat tired, and we then
remembered that it would be necessary to make preparations for our
departure from this somewhat inhospitable shore, for as to a vessel
touching there to take us off, that event was not likely to occur. I
found that my companions had commenced building a boat, but as they did
not understand carpentering as I did, it was fortunate for them that I
arrived in time to lend them a hand, or they would infallibly have gone
to the bottom as soon as they had ventured out on the foaming waves of
the Polar Sea. June was advancing, and the ice began to move
perceptibly at a distance from the shore; and as the icebergs knocked
and fell against each other, the crash was truly awful. I can only
liken it to what we might suppose produced by a set of monster ninepins
tumbled about by a party of gigantic Dutchmen. I must relate o