w the footprint on the
sand of his island; but if he was afraid, Hatteras was simply angry. A
European so near the Pole!

They pushed on to examine the footprints; for a quarter of a mile they
were continually repeated, mingled with marks of moccasins; then they
turned to the west. When they had reached this point they consulted as
to whether they should follow them any farther.

"No," said Hatteras. "Let us go on--"

He was interrupted by an exclamation of the doctor, who had just
picked up on the snow an object even more convincing, and of the
origin of which there could be no doubt. It was the object-glass of a
pocket telescope.

"Now," he said, "we can't doubt that there is a stranger here--"

"Forward!" cried Hatteras.

He uttered this word so sharply that each one obeyed, and the sledge
resumed its monotonous progress.

They all scanned the horizon attentively, except Hatteras, who was
filled with wrath and did not care to see anything. Still, since they
ran the risk of coming across a band of travellers, they had to take
precautions; it was very disappointing to see any one ahead of them on
the route. The doctor, although not as angry as Hatteras, was somewhat
vexed, in spite of his usual philosophy. Altamont seemed equally
annoyed; Johnson and Bell muttered threatening words between their
teeth.

"Come," said the doctor, "let us take heart against our bad fortune."

"We must confess," said Johnson, without being heard by Altamont,
"that if we find the place taken, it would disgust us with journeying
to the Pole."

"And yet," answered Bell, "there is no possibility of doubting--"

"No," retorted the doctor; "I turn it all over in vain, and say it is
improbable, impossible; I have to give it up. This shoe was not
pressed into the snow without being at the end of a leg, and without
the leg being attached to a human body. I could forgive Esquimaux, but
a European!"

"The fact is," answered Johnson, "that if we are going to find all the
rooms taken in the hotel of the end of the world, it would be
annoying."

"Very annoying," said Altamont.

"Well, we shall see," said the doctor.

And they pushed on. The day ended without any new fact to indicate the
presence of strangers in this part of New America, and they at last
encamped for the evening.

A rather strong wind from the south had sprung up, and obliged them to
seek a secure shelter for their tent in the bottom of a ravine. The
sky was threat