l! I confess that the captain is almost foolhardy, but
there is with him a very ingenious man."

"Dr. Clawbonny?" said Bell.

"Yes," answered Johnson.

"What can he do in such circumstances?" retorted Bell, shrugging his
shoulders. "Can he change these pieces of ice into pieces of meat? Is
he a god, who can work by miracles?"

"Who can say?" the boatswain answered his companion's doubts; "I trust
in him."

Bell shook his head, and fell into a silent apathy, in which he even
ceased to think.

That day they made hardly three miles; at evening they had nothing to
eat; the dogs threatened to devour one another; the men suffered
extremely from hunger. Not a single animal was to be seen. If there
had been one, of what use would it have been? They could not go
hunting with a knife. Only Johnson thought he recognized a mile to
leeward the large bear, who was following the ill-fated little party.

"It is spying us!" he said to himself; "it sees a certain prey in us!"

But Johnson said no word to his companions; that evening they made
their accustomed halt, and their supper consisted only of coffee. They
felt their eyes growing haggard, their brain growing confused, and,
tortured by hunger, they could not get an hour's sleep; strange and
painful dreams took possession of their minds.

At a latitude in which the body imperiously demands refreshment, these
poor men had not eaten solid food for thirty-six hours, when Tuesday
morning came. Nevertheless, inspired by superhuman energy, they
resumed their journey, pushing on the sledge which the dogs were
unable to draw. At the end of two hours they fell, exhausted. Hatteras
wanted to push on. He, still strong, besought his companions to rise,
but they were absolutely unable. Then, with Johnson's assistance, he
built a resting-place in an iceberg. It seemed as if they were digging
their own graves.

[Illustration: "At the end of two hours they fell, exhausted."]

"I am willing to die of hunger," said Hatteras, "but not of cold."

After much weariness the house was ready, and they all entered it.

[Illustration]

So that day passed. In that evening, while his companions lay inert,
Johnson had a sort of hallucination; he dreamed of an immense bear.
That word, which he kept repeating, attracted the doctor's attention,
so that he shook himself free from his stupor, and asked the old
sailor why he kept talking about a bear, and what bear he meant.

"The bear which is follo