The three hunters made their preparations; each one took a
double-barrelled rifled gun, with conical balls; they carried a small
quantity of pemmican, in case night should fall before their return;
they also were provided with the snow-knife, which is so indispensable
in these regions, and a hatchet which they wore in their belts. Thus
armed and equipped they could go far; and since they were both skilled
and bold, they could count on bringing back a good supply.

At eight in the morning they set out. Duke sprang about ahead of them;
they ascended the hill to the east, went about the lighthouse, and
disappeared in the plains to the south, which were bounded by Mount
Bell. The doctor, having agreed on a danger-signal with Johnson,
descended towards the shore so as to reach the ice in Victoria Bay.

[Illustration]

The boatswain remained at Fort Providence alone, but not idle. He
first set free the Greenland dogs, which were playing about the Dog
Palace; they in their joy rolled about in the snow. Johnson then gave
his attentions to the cares of housekeeping. He had to renew the fuel
and provisions, to set the stores in order, to mend many broken
utensils, to patch the coverings, to work over the shoes for the long
excursions of the summer. There was no lack of things to do, but the
boatswain worked with the ease of a sailor, who has generally a
smattering of all trades. While thus employed he began to think of the
talk of the evening before; he thought of the captain, and especially
of his obstinacy, which, after all, had something very heroic and very
honorable about it, in his unwillingness that any American man or boat
should reach the Pole before him, or even with him.

"Still, it seems to me," he said to himself, "no easy task to cross
the ocean without a boat; and if we have the open sea before us, we
should need one. The strongest Englishman in the world couldn't swim
three hundred miles. Patriotism has its limits. Well, we shall see. We
have still time before us; Dr. Clawbonny has not yet said his last
word in the matter; he is wise, and he may persuade the captain to
change his mind. I'll bet that in going towards the island he'll
glance at the fragments of the _Porpoise_, and will know exactly what
can be made out of them."

Johnson had reached this point in his reflections, and the hunters had
been gone an hour, when a loud report was heard two or three miles to
windward.

"Good!" said the sailor; "they