ffs in flocks, looking in places as thick as the flakes in a
snow-squall, shrieking, whistling, and circling round to gaze down at
the strange visitors to their solitude.

Seen from the vessel, a more lovely spot could not be imagined; its
beauty was dazzling; and Steve's spirits rose as he felt that if the
captain and crew of the _Ice Blink_ had escaped safely from the wreck,
they had found a glorious island in which to make their sojourn.

He said something of the kind to Captain Marsham, but there was a
saddened look and a shake of the head.

"Heavenly-looking, Steve, my boy," he said, "with the blue sea and sky,
the silvered rocks, and the lovely greys, reds, and browns of the
cliffs; but don't you see why it is so beautiful? Once this glorious
sunshine is blotted out by a cloud, and you have before you a terrible
spot--desolate, sterile, storm-swept. Fancy what it must be when the
arctic night, with its months of darkness, sets in!"

Steve was silent, and his heart sank for the time, as he saw the truth
of the captain's words; but there was hope still waiting to assert
itself: he had his glass in his hand, with which he swept the shore as
they steamed on mile after mile, till all at once he uttered a shout.

"What is it?" said the captain, for the boy was pointing to where there
was a perfect wilderness of rocks stretching down from the cliffs to the
sea.

"Some one! Look! There he goes! He is trying to get down to the sea
to hail us."

Steve had seen the moving figure with the naked eye, and his hands
trembled so with excitement that he could not adjust his glass.

"A bear--a monster," said the captain, who was gazing through his.

"A bear in an island?" said the doctor in a tone of doubt; and Steve,
whose hopes had been cast down by this announcement, felt his spirits
rise again.

"An island? Yes," said the captain; "but an island hemmed in on two or
three sides by the ice. Look, we are close to the pack which touches it
on the north. We can get no farther this way, and I daresay that the
channel between the island and Greenland is one solid floe. Yes, that's
a fine bear; and look, there is its mate."

Steve shaded his eyes and gazed shoreward, to see the second bear slowly
rise up on its hind legs, looking in the distance wonderfully like some
human being, watching the vessel gliding slowly along over the clear
water.

"You will land and have a try for the bears?" said the doctor; and at