d the vessel went gliding on
in and out amongst the floating fields of ice, while Steve stayed with
his companion, who kept pointing out objects worthy of notice.

"Seals yonder," he said, pointing to one low flat of snow-covered ice;
and Steve brought the glass to bear upon the cluster of animals huddled
up together.

"Yonder's a bear, too," said Johannes after a time.

"What eyes you have!" cried Steve. "I had not even seen that with the
glass. Why, he's on quite a small island of ice, all to himself. How
easily we could get to him with a boat!"

"Yes, easily enough, sir; but this is no time for hunting," said the
Norseman. "While we are drifting onward with all this ice the danger is
not great; but if we lay to while boats were out fishing we should soon
be fast, and it might be months before we got free. There is only one
thing to do now: get the ship into a safe haven. Then we can talk about
hunting."

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"Little more than an hour if we do not meet with a check," said
Johannes, as the _Hvalross_ glided round the edge of an ice-field into
quite a winding river of black water, more open than any they had passed
since the storm, and along which the vessel now made good way, while the
land ahead began to grow more rugged and wild, looking grand, desolate,
and apparently very much broken-up by jutting promontories and deep
inlets.

"Yes," said Johannes, after a long inspection through the glass; "there
are plenty of shelter havens there, if we are not shut off from them by
the ice."

All these observations were duly communicated to the captain, who
directed the course of the vessel by the instructions he received as to
the lay of the water. And as Johannes had said, the places where Steve
had imagined the open water to end proved to be quite clear, so that
mile after mile was passed, and at last the boy gave his opinion upon
the state of the navigation.

"Why, it's easy enough," he said; "any one might go right on like this
to the North Pole."

"It's too easy, sir," said Johannes, smiling. "How would you get back?"

"Wait till the tide turns and the ice is going the other way."

"Yes, that would be a capital plan," replied Johannes drily.

"Cold? Want to come down?" cried the captain from below.

"No, sir; quite warm shut up here," replied Steve.

"Stay up then, for you're making the navigation quite easy. All clear
ahead?"

"Yes, sir; nothing but a f