f foxes; one was a sort
of blue gray, and the other was quite white.

"As the weather grew colder, the little streams which had thus far
supplied us with water all froze up; and we had now nothing to depend
upon but the freshly fallen snow, which we had, of course, to melt. Thus
you see how important it was that I should have found the soapstone in
season, and made a pot of it, else we should not only have been obliged
to go without boiled food, but likewise without water. As for fuel, we
were for the present relieved from all anxiety by a dead walrus and a
small white whale which drifted in upon the beach during a westerly
gale. The waves being very strong, they were landed so high up on the
beach that there was little fear of their being washed away again.

"It was no easy matter to cut these animals up with our one jack-knife,
since, before we could get it done, they had frozen quite hard. The
temperature had gone down until it was already below freezing all the
time; and very soon a great deal of snow fell, and was drifted into
heaps by the wind. The sea, soon after this, became frozen over quite
solid all about the island, although we could still see plenty of clear,
open water in the distance. There was one satisfaction, at least, in
this freezing up of the sea: we could walk out upon it, and go all
around the island without having to clamber over the rough rocks.

* * * * *

"You have now seen pretty much what our life was on the island, and how
we were prepared for the winter. Well, the winter came by and by in good
earnest, I can tell you. The sunlight all went away, and then, soon
afterward, the autumn twilight went away; and then came the darkness
that I told you is constant, in the winter, up towards the North Pole,
for the winter there is but one long night, you know."

Here William, who was, as we have seen, of an inquiring turn of mind,
interrupted the Captain to ask if he would not be so good as to mention
again how dark it was in this polar winter.

"Dark as midnight," replied the Captain, promptly.

"Dark all the time, did you say, Captain Hardy?"

"Yes, dark all the time, my lad,--dark in the morning, dark in the
evening, dark at midnight, dark at noon, dark, all the time, as any
night you ever saw; only, everything being white with snow, of course
makes the night lighter than it does here, where the trees and the
houses, and other dark objects, help al