gree," he said to
himself.

March 14th, after journeying for sixteen days, they had only reached
latitude 82 degrees; their strength was exhausted, and they were still
a hundred miles from the ship; to add to their sufferings, they had to
bring the men down to a quarter-ration, in order to give the dogs
their full supply.

They could not depend on their shooting for food, for they had left
only seven charges of powder and six balls; they had in vain fired at
some white hares and foxes, which besides were very rare. None had
been hit.

Nevertheless, on the 18th, the doctor was fortunate enough to find a
seal lying on the ice; he wounded him with several balls; the animal,
not being able to escape through his hole in the ice, was soon slain.
He was of very good size. Johnson cut him up skilfully, but he was so
very thin that he was of but little use to the men, who could not make
up their minds to drink his oil, like the Esquimaux. Still the doctor
boldly tried to drink the slimy fluid, but he could not do it. He
preserved the skin of the animal, for no special reason, by a sort of
hunter's instinct, and placed it on the sledge.

[Illustration: "The doctor was fortunate enough to find a seal."]

The next day, the 16th, they saw a few icebergs on the horizon. Was it
a sign of a neighboring shore, or simply a disturbance of the ice? It
was hard to say.

When they had reached one of these hummocks, they dug in it with a
snow-knife a more comfortable retreat than that afforded by the tent,
and after three hours of exertion they were able to rest about their
glowing stove.

CHAPTER IV.
THE LAST CHARGE OF POWDER.

Johnson had admitted the tired dogs into the snow-house; when the snow
is falling heavily it serves as a covering to the animals, preserving
their natural heat. But in the open air, with a temperature of -40
degrees, they would soon have frozen to death.

Johnson, who made an excellent dog-driver, tried feeding the dogs with
the dark flesh of the seals which the travellers could not swallow,
and to his great surprise they made a rich feast out of it; the old
sailor in his delight told the doctor. He, however, was not in the
least surprised; he knew that in the north of America the horses make
fish their main article of food, and what a herbivorous horse could
content himself with would certainly satisfy an omnivorous dog.

Before going to rest, although sleep became an imperious necessity for
me