tion]

"More than one of our men, Johnson, would be glad to imitate them, I
fancy."

"They are timid fellows, Doctor; what a bird can't do, a man ought to
try! Those birds have no supply of food, as we have, and they must
support themselves elsewhere. But sailors, with a good deck under the
feet, ought to go to the end of the world."

"You hope, then, that Hatteras will succeed in his projects?"

"He will succeed, Doctor."

"I agree with you, Johnson, even if only one faithful man accompanies
him--"

"There will be two of us!"

"Yes, Johnson," the doctor answered, pressing the brave sailor's hand.

Prince Albert's Land, along which the _Forward_ was now coasting, is
also called Grinnell's Land; and although Hatteras, from his dislike
to Americans, never was willing to give it this name, nevertheless, it
is the one by which it is generally known. This is the reason of this
double title: at the same time that the Englishman Penny gave it the
name of Prince Albert, the captain of the _Rescue_, Lieutenant
DeHaven, named it Grinnell's Land, in honor of the American merchant
who had fitted out the expedition in New York.

As the brig followed the coast it met with serious difficulties, going
sometimes under sail, sometimes under steam. August 18th, Mount
Britannia was sighted through the mist, and the next day the _Forward_
cast anchor in Northumberland Bay. The ship was completely protected.

CHAPTER XXIII.
ATTACKED BY THE ICE.

Hatteras, after seeing to the anchorage of the ship, returned to his
cabin, took out his chart, and marked his position on it very
carefully; he found himself in latitude 76 degrees 57 minutes, and
longitude 99 degrees 20 minutes, that is to say, only three minutes
from latitude 77 degrees. It was here that Sir Edward Belcher passed
his first winter with the _Pioneer_ and _Assistance_. It was from here
that he organized his sledge and canoe expeditions; he discovered
Table Island, North Cornwall, Victoria Archipelago, and Belcher
Channel. Having gone beyond latitude 78 degrees, he saw the coast
inclining towards the southeast. It seemed as if it ought to connect
with Jones's Strait, which opens into Baffin's Bay. But, says the
report, an open sea, in the northwest, "stretched as far as the eye
could reach."

Hatteras gazed with emotion at that portion of the charts where a
large white space marked unknown regions, and his eyes always returned
to the open polar sea.

"After