mbling over the blocks of ice, wandered here and there,
getting more and more bewildered.

At the end of five minutes he said to himself,--

"This can't last long! Singular climate! This is too much! There is
nothing to help us, without speaking of these sharp crystals which cut
my face. Halloo, Captain!" he shouted again.

But he heard no answer; he fired his gun, but in spite of his thick
gloves the iron burned his hands. Meanwhile he thought he saw a
confused mass moving near him.

"There's some one," he said. "Hatteras! Bell! Simpson! Is that you?
Come, answer!"

A dull roar was alone heard.

"Ah!" thought the doctor, "what is that?"

The object approached; it lost its first size and appeared in more
definite shape. A terrible thought flashed into the doctor's mind.

"A bear!" he said to himself.

In fact, it was a huge bear; lost in the fog, it came and went with
great danger to the men, whose presence it certainly did not suspect.

"Matters are growing complicated!" thought the doctor, standing still.

Sometimes he felt the animal's breath, which was soon lost in the
frost-rime; again he would see the monster's huge paws beating the air
so near him that his clothes were occasionally torn by its sharp
claws; he jumped back, and the animal disappeared like a
phantasmagoric spectre.

[Illustration]

But as he sprang back he found an elevation beneath his feet; he
climbed up first one block of ice, then another, feeling his way with
his staff.

"An iceberg!" he said to himself; "if I can get to the top I am safe."

With these words he climbed up an elevation of about ninety feet with
surprising agility; he arose above the frozen mist, the top of which
was sharply defined.

"Good!" he said to himself; and looking about him he saw his three
companions emerging from the vapor.

"Hatteras!"

"Dr. Clawbonny!"

"Bell!"

"Simpson!"

These names were shouted out almost at the same time; the sky, lit up
by a magnificent halo, sent forth pale rays which colored the
frost-rime as if it were a cloud, and the top of the icebergs seemed
to rise from a mass of molten silver. The travellers found themselves
within a circle of less than a hundred feet in diameter. Thanks to the
purity of the air in this upper layer in this low temperature, their
words could be easily heard, and they were able to talk on the top of
this iceberg. After the first shots, each one, hearing no answer, had
only thought of climbi