after completing half his task, he
saw his grand plans completely overthrown. The treachery, or rather
the demoralization of his wearied crew, the criminal folly of some of
the ringleaders, left him in a terrible situation; of the eighteen men
who had sailed in the brig, four were left, abandoned without
supplies, without a boat, more than twenty-five hundred miles from
home!

The explosion of the _Forward_, which had just blown up before their
eyes, took from them their last means of subsistence. Still,
Hatteras's courage did not abandon him at this terrible crisis. The
men who were left were the best of the crew; they were genuine heroes.
He made an appeal to the energy and wisdom of Dr. Clawbonny, to the
devotion of Johnson and Bell, to his own faith in the enterprise; even
in these desperate straits he ventured to speak of hope; his brave
companions listened to him, and their courage in the past warranted
confidence in their promises for the future.

The doctor, after listening to the captain's words, wanted to get an
exact idea of their situation; and, leaving the others about five
hundred feet from the ship, he made his way to the scene of the
catastrophe.

Of the _Forward_, which had been built with so much care, nothing was
left; pieces of ice, shapeless fragments all blackened and charred,
twisted pieces of iron, ends of ropes still burning like fuse, and
scattered here and there on the ice-field, testified to the force of
the explosion. The cannon had been hurled to some distance, and was
lying on a piece of ice that looked like a gun-carriage. The surface
of the ice, for a circle of six hundred feet in diameter, was covered
with fragments of all sorts; the brig's keel lay under a mass of ice;
the icebergs, which had been partly melted by the fire, had already
recovered their rock-like hardness.

The doctor then began to think of his ruined cabin, of his lost
collections, of his precious instruments destroyed, his books torn,
burned to ashes. So much that was valuable gone! He gazed with tearful
eyes at this vast disaster, thinking not of the future, but of the
irreparable misfortune which dealt him so severe a blow. He was
immediately joined by Johnson; the old sailor's face bore signs of his
recent sufferings; he had been obliged to struggle against his
revolted companions, defending the ship which had been intrusted to
his care. The doctor sadly pressed the boatswain's hand.

[Illustration]

"Well