PTER XIV.
THE POLAR SPRING.

The prisoners were set free; they expressed their joy by the warmth of
their thanks to the doctor. Johnson regretted somewhat the skins,
which were burned and useless; but his regret did not sour his temper.
They spent the day in repairing the house, which was somewhat injured
by the explosion. They took away the blocks heaped up by the animals,
and the walls were made secure. They worked briskly, encouraged by the
cheery songs of the boatswain.

The next day the weather was much milder; the wind changed suddenly,
and the thermometer rose to +15 degrees. So great a difference was
soon felt by both man and nature. The southerly wind brought with it
the first signs of the polar spring. This comparative warmth lasted
for many days; the thermometer, sheltered from the wind, even rose as
high as +31 degrees, and there were signs of a thaw. The ice began to
crack; a few spirts of salt-water arose here and there, like jets in
an English park; a few days later it rained hard.

[Illustration]

A dense vapor arose from the snow; this was a good sign, and the
melting of the immense masses appeared to be near at hand. The pale
disk of the sun grew brighter and drew longer spirals above the
horizon; the night lasted scarcely three hours. Another similar
symptom was the reappearance of some ptarmigans, arctic geese, plover,
and flocks of quail; the air was soon filled with the deafening cries
which they remembered from the previous summer. A few hares, which
they were able to shoot, appeared on the shores of the bay, as well as
the arctic mice, the burrows of which were like a honeycomb. The
doctor called the attention of his friends to the fact that these
animals began to lose their white winter plumage, or hair, to put on
their summer dress; they were evidently getting ready for summer,
while their sustenance appeared in the form of moss, poppy, saxifrage,
and thin grass. A new life was peering through the melting snows. But
with the harmless animals returned the famished foes; foxes and wolves
arrived in search of their prey; mournful howling sounded during the
brief darkness of the nights.

[Illustration]

The wolf of these countries is near of kin to the dog; like him, it
barks, and often in such a way as to deceive the sharpest ears, those
of the dogs themselves, for instance; it is even said that they employ
this device to attract dogs, and then eat them. This has been observed
on the sh