hich followed the movement of the swell. However,
in a few hours Hatteras succeeded in getting his ship into a calm
sea, whilst the violence of the hurricane spent itself at a few cables'
length from the _Forward_. Melville Bay no longer presented the same
aspect; under the influence of the winds and the waves a great number
of icebergs, detached from the coast, floated northward, running
against one another in every direction. There were several hundreds
of them, but the bay is very wide, and the brig easily avoided them.
The spectacle of these floating masses was magnificent; they seemed
to be having a grand race for it on the open sea. The doctor was getting
quite excited with watching them, when the harpooner, Simpson, came
up and made him look at the changing tints in the sea; they varied
from a deep blue to olive green; long stripes stretched north and
south in such decided lines that the eye could follow each shade out
of sight. Sometimes a transparent sheet of water would follow a
perfectly opaque sheet.

"Well, Mr. Clawbonny, what do you think of that?" said Simpson.

"I am of the same opinion as the whaler Scoresby on the nature of
the different coloured waters; blue water has no animalculae, and
green water is full of them. Scoresby has made several experiments
on this subject, and I think he is right."

"Well, sir, I know something else about the colours in the sea, and
if I were a whaler I should be precious glad to see them."

"But I don't see any whales," answered the doctor.

"You won't be long before you do, though, I can tell you. A whaler
is lucky when he meets with those green stripes under this latitude."

"Why?" asked the doctor, who always liked to get information from
anybody who understood what they were talking about.

"Because whales are always found in great quantities in green water."

"What's the reason of that?"

"Because they find plenty of food in them."

"Are you sure of that?"

"I've seen it a hundred times, at least, in Baffin Sea; why shouldn't
it be the same in Melville Bay? Besides, look there, Mr. Clawbonny,"
added Simpson, leaning over the barricading.

"Why any one would think it was the wake of a ship!"

"It is an oily substance that the whale leaves behind. The animal
can't be far off!"

The atmosphere was impregnated with a strong oily odour, and the
doctor attentively watched the surface of the water. The prediction
of the harpooner was soon accomplished. Fo