ny rate, it began well, and that was
a good deal.

The western shore of New America stretched out in a series of bays
beyond Cape Washington; the travellers, to avoid this long curve,
after crossing the first spurs of Mount Bell, turned northward over
the upper plateaus. This was a great saving of time; Hatteras was
anxious, unless prevented by seas or mountains, to make a straight
line of three hundred and fifty miles to the Pole from Fort
Providence.

Their journey was easy; these lofty plains were covered with deep
snow, over which the sledge passed easily, and the men in their
snow-shoes walked easily and rapidly.

[Illustration]

The thermometer stood at 37 degrees. The weather was not absolutely
settled; at one moment it was clear, the next cloudy: but neither cold
nor showers could have stopped the eager party. They could be followed
easily by the compass; the needle was more active as they receded from
the magnetic pole; it is true that it turned to the opposite direction
and pointed to the south, while they were walking northward; but this
did not in any way embarrass them. Besides, the doctor devised a
simple method of staking out the way and thereby avoiding perpetual
reference to the compass; when once they had got their bearings by
some object two or three miles to the north, they walked till they
reached it, when they chose another, and so on. In this way they had a
straight road.

In the first two days they made twenty miles in twelve hours; the rest
of the time was devoted to meals and rest. The tent was ample
protection against the cold when they were sleeping. The temperature
gradually rose. The snow melted away in some places, according to the
shape of the ground, while in others it lay in large patches. Broad
pools appeared here and there, often almost as large as lakes. They
would walk in up to their waists very often; but they only laughed at
it, and the doctor more than any.

"Water has no right to wet us in this country," he used to say; "it
ought to appear only as a solid, or a gas; as to its being liquid,
it's absurd! Ice or vapor will do, but water won't!"

[Illustration]

They did not forget their shooting, for thereby they got fresh meat.
So Altamont and Bell, without going very far away, scoured the
neighboring ravines; they brought back ptarmigan, geese, and a few
gray rabbits. Gradually these animals became very shy and hard to
approach. Without Duke they would often have foun