Bell; the plains
of ice were level; the snow, which covered the ground thickly,
solidified by the frost, made the ground good for walking; a dry and
keen cold lightened the atmosphere; the moon shone in all her
splendour, and threw an astonishing light on all the asperities of
the field; their footsteps left marks on the snow, and the moon lighted
up their edges, so that they looked like a luminous track behind the
hunters whose shadows fell on the ice with astonishing outlines.

The doctor had taken his friend Dick with him; he preferred him to
the Greenland dogs to run down the game for a good reason; the latter
do not seem to have the scent of their brethren of more temperate
climates. Dick ran on and often pointed out the track of a bear, but
in spite of his skill the hunters had not even killed a hare after
two hours' walking.

"Do you think the game has gone south too?" asked the doctor, halting
at the foot of a hummock.

"It looks like it, Mr. Clawbonny," answered the carpenter.

"I don't think so," answered Johnson; "hares, foxes, and bears are
accustomed to the climate; I believe the late tempest is the cause
of their disappearance; but with the south winds they'll soon come
back. Ah! if you said reindeers or musk-oxen it would be a different
thing."

"But it appears those, too, are found in troops in Melville Island,"
replied the doctor; "that is much further south, I grant you; when
Parry wintered there he always had as much game as he wanted."

"We are not so well off," said Bell; "if we could only get plenty
of bear's flesh I should not complain."

"Bears are very difficult to get at," answered the doctor; "it seems
to me they want civilising."

"Bell talks about the bear's flesh, but we want its fat more than
its flesh or its skin," said Johnson.

"You are right, Johnson; you are always thinking about the fuel."

"How can I help thinking about it? I know if we are ever so careful
of it we've only enough left for three weeks."

"Yes," replied the doctor, "that is our greatest danger, for we are
only at the beginning of November, and February is the coldest month
of the year in the Frozen Zone; however, if we can't get bear's grease
we can rely on that of the seals."

"Not for long, Mr. Clawbonny," answered Johnson. "They'll soon desert
us too; either through cold or fright, they'll soon leave off coming
on to the surface of the ice."

"Then we must get at the bears," said the doctor; "they