y lying on the ice, plunged hurriedly into
the depths.

"I' faith!" said Penellan, "we shall not want for either furs or
game!"

"Those animals," returned Cornbutte, "give every evidence of
having been already visited by men; for in places totally
uninhabited they would not be so wild."

"None but Greenlanders frequent these parts," said Andre Vasling.

"I see no trace of their passage, however; neither any encampment
nor the smallest hut," said Penellan, who had climbed up a high
peak. "O captain!" he continued, "come here! I see a point of
land which will shelter us splendidly from the north-east wind."

"Come along, boys!" said Jean Cornbutte.

His companions followed him, and they soon rejoined Penellan. The
sailor had said what was true. An elevated point of land jutted
out like a promontory, and curving towards the coast, formed a
little inlet of a mile in width at most. Some moving ice-blocks,
broken by this point, floated in the midst, and the sea,
sheltered from the colder winds, was not yet entirely frozen
over.

This was an excellent spot for wintering, and it only remained to
get the ship thither. Jean Cornbutte remarked that the neighbouring
ice-field was very thick, and it seemed very difficult to cut a canal
to bring the brig to its destination. Some other creek, then, must be
found; it was in vain that he explored northward. The coast remained
steep and abrupt for a long distance, and beyond the point it was
directly exposed to the attacks of the east-wind. The circumstance
disconcerted the captain all the more because Andre Vasling used
strong arguments to show how bad the situation was. Penellan, in
this dilemma, found it difficult to convince himself that all was
for the best.

But one chance remained--to seek a shelter on the southern side
of the coast. This was to return on their path, but hesitation
was useless. The little band returned rapidly in the direction of
the ship, as their provisions had begun to run short. Jean
Cornbutte searched for some practicable passage, or at least some
fissure by which a canal might be cut across the ice-fields, all
along the route, but in vain.

Towards evening the sailors came to the same place where they had
encamped over night. There had been no snow during the day, and
they could recognize the imprint of their bodies on the ice. They
again disposed themselves to sleep with their furs.

Penellan, much disturbed by the bad success of the expediti