d it hard to get any
game. Hatteras advised them not to go off farther than a mile, for not
a day nor an hour was to be lost, and he could not count on more than
three months of good weather.

Besides, each one had to be at his post by the sledge whenever a hard
spot, a narrow gorge, or steep inclines lay in the path; then each one
helped pull or push. More than once everything had to be taken off;
and this even did not fully protect against shocks and damage, which
Bell repaired as well as he could.

The third day, Wednesday, June 26th, they came across a vast lake,
still frozen by reason of its being sheltered from the sun; the ice
was even strong enough to bear both men and sledge. It was a solid
mirror which no arctic summers had melted, as was shown by the fact
that its borders were surrounded by a dry snow, of which the lower
layers evidently belonged to previous years.

[Illustration]

From this moment the land grew lower, whence the doctor concluded that
it did not extend very far to the north. Besides, it was very likely
that New America was merely an island, and did not extend to the Pole.
The ground grew more level; in the west a few low hills could be seen
in the distance, covered with a bluish mist.

So far they had experienced no hardships; they had suffered from
nothing except the reflection of the sun's rays upon the snow, which
could easily give them snow-blindness. At any other time they would
have travelled by night to avoid this inconvenience, but then there
was no night. The snow was fortunately melting away, and it was much
less brilliant when it was about turning into water.

June 28th the temperature arose to 45 degrees; this was accompanied
with heavy rain, which the travellers endured stoically, even with
pleasure, for it hastened the disappearance of the snow. They had to
put on their deer-skin moccasins, and change the runners of the
sledge. Their journey was delayed, but still they were advancing
without any serious obstacles. At times the doctor would pick up
rounded or flat stones like pebbles worn smooth by the waves, and then
he thought he was near the Polar Sea; but yet the plain stretched on
out of sight. There was no trace of man, no hut, no cairn nor
Esquimaux snow-house; they were evidently the first to set foot in
this new land. The Greenlanders never had gone so far, and yet this
country offered plenty of game for the support of that half-starved
people. Sometimes bears ap