s or feet without noticing it; then amputation would be
necessary, and we should try to leave nothing of ourselves in these
lands. And now I think it would be well for us to seek a few hours of
sleep."

"Willingly," answered the doctor's companions.

"Who keeps watch over the stove?"

"I do," answered Bell.

"Well, my friend, take care the fire does not fall out, for it's most
abominably cold this evening."

"Don't be uneasy, Doctor; it's very sharp, but see, the sky is all
ablaze!"

"Yes," answered the doctor, going up to the window, "it's a
magnificent aurora. What a glorious sight! I should never get tired of
looking at it!"

[Illustration]

In fact, the doctor admired all these cosmic phenomena, to which his
companions paid but little attention; he had noticed, besides, that
their appearance always preceded disturbances of the magnetic needle,
and he was preparing some observations on the subject which he
intended for Admiral Fitz-Roy's "Weather Book."

Soon, while Bell was on watch near the stove, all the rest, stretched
on their beds, slept quietly.

CHAPTER X.
THE PLEASURES OF WINTER-QUARTERS.

There is a gloomy monotony about life at the Pole. Man is wholly the
sport of the changes of the weather, which alternates between intense
cold and severe storms with savage relentlessness. The greater part of
the time it is impossible to set foot out of doors; one is imprisoned
in the hut of ice. Long months pass in this way, so that men lead the
life of moles.

The next day the thermometer was several degrees lower, and the air
was full of clouds of snow, which absorbed all the light of day. The
doctor saw himself kept within doors, and he folded his arms; there
was nothing to be done, except every hour to clear away the
entrance-hall and to repolish the ice-walls which the heat within made
damp; but the snow-house was very finely built, and the snow added to
its resistance by augmenting the thickness of its walls.

The stores were equally secure. All the objects taken from the ship
had been arranged in order in these "Docks of Merchandise," as the
doctor called them. Now, although these stores were at a distance of
only sixty feet from the house, it was yet on some days almost
impossible to get to them; hence a certain quantity of provisions had
always to be kept in the kitchen for daily needs.

They had been wise in unloading the _Porpoise_. The ship was exposed
to a gentle, but persistent