fted against the ice-field.

"That floe!" he said, pointing to it.

They did not catch his meaning.

"Let us get on it!" he cried.

They saw his plan at once.

"Ah, Clawbonny, Dr. Clawbonny!" cried Johnson, kissing the doctor's
hands.

Bell, with Altamont's aid, ran to the sledge; he brought one of the
uprights, stood it up on the floe for a mast, making it fast with
ropes; the tent was torn up for a sail. The wind was fair; the poor
castaways put out to sea on this frail raft.

Two hours later, after unheard-of efforts, the last men of the
_Forward_ were taken aboard the Danish whaler _Hans Christian_, which
was sailing to Davis Strait. The captain received kindly these
spectres who had lost their semblance to human beings; when he saw
their sufferings he understood their history; he gave them every
attention, and managed to save their lives. Ten days later, Clawbonny,
Johnson, Bell, Altamont, and Captain Hatteras landed at Korsoeur, in
Zeeland, in Denmark; a steamboat carried them to Kiel; thence, _via_
Altona and Hamburg, they reached London the 13th of the same month,
hardly recovered from their long sufferings.

[Illustration: "Two hours later, after unheard-of efforts, the last
men of the _Forward_ were taken aboard the Danish whaler _Hans
Christian_."]

[Illustration: "A steamboat carried them to Kiel."]

The first thought of the doctor was to ask permission of the Royal
Geographical Society of London to lay a communication before it; he
was admitted to the meeting of July 15th. The astonishment of the
learned assembly, and its enthusiastic cheers after reading Hatteras's
document, may be imagined.

This journey, the only one of its kind, went over all the discoveries
that had been made in the regions about the Pole; it brought together
the expeditions of Parry, Ross, Franklin, MacClure; it completed the
chart between the one hundredth and one hundred and fifteenth
meridians; and, finally, it ended with the point of the globe hitherto
inaccessible, with the Pole itself.

Never had news so unexpected burst upon astonished England.

The English take great interest in geographical facts; they are proud
of them, lord and cockney, from the merchant prince to the workman in
the docks.

The news of this great discovery was telegraphed over the United
Kingdom with great rapidity; the papers printed the name of Hatteras
at the head of their columns as that of a martyr, and England glowed
with pride.