gators
had taken two or three years to do! He should be obliged to winter
now, but there was nothing to frighten brave sailors in that. Sir
John Ross and McClure had passed three successive winters in the
Arctic regions. What they had done he could do too!

"If I had only been able to get up Smith Strait at the north of Baffin's
Sea, I should be at the Pole by now!" he said to the doctor regretfully.

"Never mind, captain!" answered the doctor, "we shall get at it by
the 99th meridian instead of by the 75th; if all roads lead to Rome,
it's more certain still that all meridians lead to the Pole."

On the 31st of August the thermometer marked 13 degrees. The end of
the navigable season was approaching; the _Forward_ left Exmouth
Island to the starboard, and three days after passed Table Island
in the middle of Belcher Channel. At an earlier period it would perhaps
have been possible to regain Baffin's Sea by this channel, but it
was not to be dreamt of then; this arm of the sea was entirely
barricaded by ice; ice-fields extended as far as the eye could reach,
and would do so for eight months longer. Happily they could still
gain a few minutes further north on the condition of breaking up the
ice with huge clubs and petards. Now the temperature was so low, any
wind, even a contrary one, was welcome, for in a calm the sea froze
in a single night. The _Forward_ could not winter in her present
situation, exposed to winds, icebergs, and the drift from the channel;
a shelter was the first thing to find; Hatteras hoped to gain the
coast of New Cornwall, and to find above Albert Point a bay of refuge
sufficiently sheltered. He therefore pursued his course northward
with perseverance. But on the 8th an impenetrable ice-bank lay in
front of him, and the temperature was at 10 degrees. Hatteras did
all he could to force a passage, continually risking his ship and
getting out of danger by force of skill. He could be accused of
imprudence, want of reflection, folly, blindness, but he was a good
sailor, and one of the best! The situation of the _Forward_ became
really dangerous; the sea closed up behind her, and in a few hours
the ice got so hard that the men could run along it and tow the ship
in all security.

Hatteras found he could not get round the obstacle, so he resolved
to attack it in front; he used his strongest blasting cylinders of
eight to ten pounds of powder; they began by making a hole in the
thick of the ice, and f