to it, awaited him on the
ice-field. Bell started the first; the others followed.

Johnson accompanied the travellers for a quarter of a mile, then
Hatteras begged him to return on board, and the old sailor went back
after making a long farewell gesture. At that moment Hatteras turned
a last look towards the brig, and saw the extremity of her masts
disappear in the dark clouds of the sky.

CHAPTER XXIX

ACROSS THE ICE

The little troop descended towards the south-east. Simpson drove the
sledge. Dick helped him with zeal, and did not seem astonished at
the new occupation of his companions. Hatteras and the doctor walked
behind, whilst Bell went on in front, sounding the ice with his
iron-tipped stick. The rising of the thermometer indicated
approaching snow; it soon fell in thick flakes, and made the journey
difficult for the travellers; it made them deviate from the straight
line, and obliged them to walk slower; but, on an average, they made
three miles an hour. The surface of the ice was unequal, and the sledge
was often in danger of being overturned, but by great care it was
kept upright.

Hatteras and his companions were clothed in skins more useful than
elegant. Their heads and faces were covered with hoods, their mouths,
eyes, and noses alone coming into contact with the air. If they had
not been exposed the breath would have frozen their coverings, and
they would have been obliged to take them off with the help of an
axe--an awkward way of undressing. The interminable plain kept on
with fatiguing monotony; icebergs of uniform aspect and hummocks
whose irregularity ended by seeming always the same; blocks cast in
the same mould, and icebergs between which tortuous valleys wound.
The travellers spoke little, and marched on, compass in hand. It is
painful to open one's mouth in such an atmosphere; sharp icicles form
immediately between one's lips, and the breath is not warm enough
to melt them. Bell's steps were marked in the soft ground, and they
followed them attentively, certain of being able to go where he had
been before.

Numerous traces of bears and foxes crossed their path, but not an
animal was seen that day. It would have been dangerous and useless
to hunt them, as the sledge was sufficiently freighted. Generally
in this sort of excursion travellers leave provision-stores along
their route; they place them in hiding-places of snow, out of reach
of animals; unload during the journey, and ta