first officer, "have the crew put in line; I
want to inspect them."

Shandon obeyed, and gave the requisite orders with an agitated voice.

The captain walked in front of the officers and men, saying a word to
each, and treating him according to his past conduct.

When he had finished his inspection, he went back to the quarter-deck,
and calmly uttered these words:--

"Officers and sailors, I am an Englishman like you all, and my motto
is that of Lord Nelson,--'England expects every man to do his duty.'

"As Englishmen, I am unwilling, we are unwilling, that others should
go where we have not been. As Englishmen, I shall not endure, we shall
not endure, that others should have the glory of going farther north
than we. If human foot is ever to reach the Pole, it must be the foot
of an Englishman! Here is the flag of our country. I have equipped
this ship, I have devoted my fortune to this undertaking, I shall
devote to it my life and yours, but this flag shall float over the
North Pole. Fear not. You shall receive a thousand pounds sterling for
every degree that we get farther north after this day. Now we are at
the seventy-second, and there are ninety in all. Figure it out. My
name will be proof enough. It means energy and patriotism. I am
Captain Hatteras."

"Captain Hatteras!" cried Shandon. And this name, familiar to them
all, soon spread among all the crew.

"Now," resumed Hatteras, "let us anchor the brig to the ice; let the
fires be put out, and every one return to his usual occupation.
Shandon, I want to speak with you about the ship. You will join me in
my cabin with the doctor, Wall, and the boatswain. Johnson, dismiss
the men."

Hatteras, calm and cold, quietly left the poop-deck, while Shandon had
the brig made fast to the ice.

Who was this Hatteras, and why did his name make so deep an impression
upon the crew?

John Hatteras, the only son of a London brewer, who died in 1852,
worth six million pounds, took to the sea at an early age, unmindful
of the large fortune which was to come to him. Not that he had any
commercial designs, but a longing for geographical discovery possessed
him; he was continually dreaming of setting foot on some spot
untrodden of man.

When twenty years old, he had the vigorous constitution of thin,
sanguine men; an energetic face, with well-marked lines, a high
forehead, rising straight from the eyes, which were handsome but cold,
thin lips, indicating a mouth chary o