advanced, and towards six o'clock they were clear of
Bellot Strait.

But great was Hatteras's anger at finding the way to the north closed!
He was able to hide his despair; and as if the only open path were the
one of his choice, he turned the _Forward_ towards Franklin Sound.
Being unable to go up Peel Sound, he determined to go around Prince of
Wales Land, to reach MacClintock Channel. But he knew that Shandon and
Wall could not be deceived, and were conscious of the failure of his
hopes.

Nothing especial happened on the 6th of June; snow fell, and the
prophecy of the halo came true.

For thirty-six hours the _Forward_ followed the sinuosities of the
coast of Boothia, without reaching Prince of Wales Land. Hatteras put
on all steam, burning his coal extravagantly; he still intended to get
further supplies on Beechey Island; on Thursday he arrived at Franklin
Sound, and he still found the way northward impassable.

His position was a desperate one; he could not return; the ice pushed
him onward, and he saw his path forever closing behind him, as if
there were no open sea where he had passed but an hour before.

Hence, not only was the _Forward_ unable to go toward the north, but
she could not stop for a moment lest she should be imprisoned, and she
fled before the ice like a ship before a storm.

Friday, June 7th, she arrived near the coast of Boothia, at the
entrance of James Ross Sound, which had to be avoided because its only
exit is to the west, close to the shore of America.

The observations taken at noon showed them to be in latitude 70
degrees 5 minutes 17 seconds, and longitude 96 degrees 46 minutes 45
seconds; when the doctor heard this he examined his chart, and found
that they were at the magnetic pole, at the very point where James
Ross, the nephew of Sir John, came to determine its situation.

The land was low near the coast, and it rose only about sixty feet at
the distance of a mile from the sea.

The boiler of the _Forward_ needed cleaning; the captain anchored his
ship to a field of ice, and gave the doctor leave to go ashore with
the boatswain. For himself, being indifferent to everything outside of
his own plans, he shut himself up in his cabin, and studied the chart
of the Pole.

The doctor and his companion easily reached land; the first-named
carried a compass for his experiments; he wanted to test the work of
James Ross; he easily made out the mound of stones erected by him; he
ran