s were lowered,
and the topmasts also; in spite of everything the ship labored
fearfully; the heavy seas kept the deck continually deluged with
water; the smoke flew eastward with inconceivable rapidity; they went
on almost at haphazard through the floating ice; the barometer fell to
29 degrees; it was hard to stay on deck, so most of the men were kept
below to spare them unnecessary exposure.

Hatteras, Johnson, and Shandon remained on the quarter-deck, in spite
of the whirlwinds of snow and rain; and the doctor, who had just asked
himself what was the most disagreeable thing to be done at that time,
soon joined them there; they could not hear, and hardly could they
see, one another; so he kept his thoughts to himself.

[Illustration]

Hatteras tried to pierce the dense cloud of mist, for, according to
his calculation, they should be through the strait at six o'clock of
the evening. At that time exit seemed closed, and Hatteras was obliged
to stop and anchor to an iceberg; but steam was kept up all night.

The weather was terrible. Every moment the _Forward_ threatened to
snap her cables; there was danger, too, lest the mountain should be
driven by the wind and crush the brig. The officers kept on the alert,
owing to their extreme anxiety; besides the snow, large lumps of
frozen spray were blown about by the hurricane like sharp arrows.

The temperature arose strangely in that terrible night; the
thermometer marked 57 degrees; and the doctor, to his great surprise,
thought he noticed some flashes of lightning followed by distant
thunder. This seemed to corroborate the testimony of Scoresby, who
noticed the same phenomenon above latitude 65 degrees. Captain Parry
also observed it in 1821.

Towards five o'clock in the morning the weather changed with singular
rapidity; the temperature fell to the freezing-point; the wind shifted
to the north and grew quiet. The western opening of the strait could
be seen, but it was entirely closed. Hatteras gazed anxiously at the
coast, asking himself if there really were any exit.

Nevertheless, the brig put out slowly into the ice-streams, while the
ice crushed noisily against her bows; the packs at this time were six
or seven feet thick; it was necessary carefully to avoid them, for if
the ship should try to withstand them, it ran the risk of being lifted
half out of the water and cast on her beam-ends.

At noon, for the first time, a magnificent solar phenomenon could be
o