"That is not satisfactory proof. I have been looking hard, but the
stern is battered away, and there is no name. It may be any one of the
hundreds of boats that sailed north during the past ten years, or a
derelict brought up by the current and washed ashore."

But Steve shook his head.

"Ah! you are determined to take the worst view of it, my lad," said the
captain kindly. "Even if it is the wreck of the _Ice Blink_, Steve, my
boy, they must have had plenty of stores and timber, and we may find
them with a snug cabin built up, and all well and hearty."

"You think so?" cried Steve eagerly.

"I do not say I think so, my boy. I say it is possible, if--mind _if_--
that is the wreck of the _Ice Blink_."

"Of course," said the doctor encouragingly, as he used his glass. "They
may be up one of those gullies in some sheltered spot inland."

"No," said the captain decisively; "I doubt very much whether there are
any sheltered spots inland. To me it seems as if the whole of the
interior is one icy desert. Look at that gully, Handscombe, there to
the right. A regular alpine glacier running nearly down to the shore."

"Yes; but still there may be sheltered valleys."

"Of course; but it strikes me that if we find our friends it will be
somewhere along the narrow stretch of shore. But we'll see."

"What are you going to do, sir--land?" cried Steve eagerly.

"Yes, when we can find a landing-place. No boat could get ashore here.
We'll go gently along to the north, and keep a good look-out both for
them and a sheltered cove."

And, giving the necessary orders, the _Hvalross_ began to glide slowly
in toward the wreck, with a man in the chains heaving the lead, and
always finding deep water till they were quite close in to where the
surf beat heavily with its deafening roar upon the rocks.

A boat was in readiness for landing an exploring party, with guns and
spears in case of game being met with, or, as the doctor pleasantly put
it, a polar bear should come down prepared to make game of them.

Even when close in there was nothing visible about the wreck which
indicated its name or the port to which it belonged, and, the course
being altered, they steamed along at a safe distance from the rocks,
carefully scanning the shore and the cliffs right up to where the ice
and snow lay thickly. But there was no sign of human habitation, no
signal, no living creature but the sea-birds, which flew about the face
of the cli