ory for the
purpose it was intended for; partly decked, and partly open, it could
sail in heavy weather under mainsail and jib, while it was so light as
not to be too heavy a load on the sledge for the dogs.

[Illustration]

Then, too, a change of great importance was taking place in the state
of the polar basin. The ice in the middle of the bay was beginning to
give way; the tallest pieces, forever weakened by the collision of the
rest, only needed a sufficiently heavy tempest to be torn away and to
become icebergs. Still, Hatteras was unwilling to wait so long before
starting. Since it was to be a land journey, he cared very little
whether the sea was open or not. He determined to start June 25th;
meanwhile all the preparations could be completed. Johnson and Bell
put the sledge into perfect repair; the frame was strengthened and the
runners renewed. The travellers intended to devote to their journey
the few weeks of good weather which nature allows to these northern
regions. Their sufferings would be less severe, the obstacles easier
to overcome.

[Illustration]

A few days before their departure, June 20th, the ice had so many free
passages, that they were able to make a trial trip on board of the new
launch as far as Cape Washington. The sea was not perfectly free, far
from it; but its surface was not solid, and it would have been
impossible to make a trip on foot over the ice-fields. This half-day's
sail showed the good sailing qualities of the launch. During the
return they beheld a curious incident. It was a monstrous bear chasing
a seal. Fortunately the former was so busily occupied, that he did not
see the launch, otherwise he would certainly have pursued it; he kept
on watch near a crevasse in the ice-field, into which the seal had
evidently plunged. He was awaiting his reappearance with all the
patience of a hunter, or rather of a fisherman, for he was really
fishing. He was silent, motionless, without any sign of life. Suddenly
the surface of the water was agitated; the seal had come up to
breathe. The bear crouched low upon the ice, and rounded his two paws
about the crevasse. The next moment the seal appeared, with his head
above water; but he had not time to withdraw it. The bear's paws, as
if driven by a spring, were clashed together, strangling the animal
with irresistible force and dragging it out of the water.

It was but a brief struggle; the seal struggled for a few seconds, and
was then suf