if he had not been sure, without having seen it with his own eyes."

"Well, what then, Doctor?"

"We are not a hundred miles from the place where Belcher saw this
coal! What is a journey of a hundred miles? Nothing. Longer
expeditions have often been made on the ice, and with the cold as
intense. Let us go after it, Captain!"

"We'll go!" said Hatteras, who had made up his mind quickly; and with
his active imagination he saw the chance of safety.

Johnson was informed of the plan, of which he approved highly; he told
his companions; some rejoiced, others heard of it with indifference.

"Coal on these shores!" said Wall from his sick-bed.

"We'll let them go," answered Shandon, mysteriously.

But before they had begun to make preparations for the trip, Hatteras
wanted to fix the position of the _Forward_ with the utmost
exactitude. The importance of this calculation it is easy to see. Once
away from the ship, it could not be found again without knowing its
position precisely.

So Hatteras went up on deck; he took observations at different moments
of several lunar distances, and the altitude of the principal stars.
He found, however, much difficulty in doing this, for when the
temperature was so low, the glass and the mirrors of the instrument
were covered with a crust of ice from Hatteras's breath; more than
once his eyelids were burned by touching the copper eye-pieces. Still,
he was able to get very exact bases for his calculations, and he
returned to the common-room to work them out. When he had finished, he
raised his head with stupefaction, took his chart, marked it, and
looked at the doctor.

"Well?" asked the latter.

"What was our latitude when we went into winter-quarters?"

"Our latitude was 78 degrees 15 minutes, and the longitude 95 degrees
35 minutes, exactly the pole of cold."

"Well," added Hatteras in a low voice, "our ice-field is drifting! We
are two degrees farther north and farther west,--at least three
hundred miles from your coal-supply!"

"And these poor men who know nothing about it!" cried the doctor.

"Not a word!" said Hatteras, raising his finger to his lips.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.

Hatteras did not wish to let his crew know about this new condition of
affairs. He was right. If they had known that they were being driven
towards the north with irresistible force, they would have given way
to despair. The doctor knew this, and approved of the ca