of snow being placed on the top of it. The canvas was also
allowed to hang over a couple of lances lashed together in front, so
that we had a very tolerable shelter. The snow was scraped away from
the interior; and such spars and planks as we could get out of the boat
were spread at the bottom, with a sail over them, to form our bed.

These arrangements were accomplished as the long twilight turned into
total darkness. We lay down, and prepared to pass the dreary hours till
the sun rose again as best we could. I thought of the time I had spent
on the iceberg, and, remembering Andrew's words, I did not despair. I
slept, as did my companions, many of them with the careless indifference
to danger which has become the characteristic of most British seamen.

I was awoke by the excessive cold, though we kept as close together
within our shelter as we could, for the sake of the warmth. My
companions were still asleep, and I was afraid if I moved of arousing
them. The storm still raged furiously without, and I could not again
compose myself to sleep for the noise it made.

I lay awake, listening to its whistling sound as it blew over the ice,
when I fancied that I heard a low grumbling noise, like a person with a
gruff voice talking to himself. At last this idea grew so strong on me,
that I crept quietly to the curtain in front of our hut, and, lifting up
a corner, looked out. The stars were shining forth from the sky, and
there was a thin crescent moon, by the light of which I saw a white
monster leaning over the gunwale of our boat, examining, it appeared to
me, the things in her. I was not long in recognising the visitor to be
a large, white, shaggy polar bear. He first took up one thing, and,
smelling it and turning it over on every side, replaced it. When,
however, he came to a piece of beef, or anything eatable, he without
ceremony appropriated it, and was thus rapidly consuming our slender
store of provisions. "This will never do," I thought to myself. "If
this goes on, we shall be to a certainty starved."

We had fortunately brought the two guns into the hut, that they might
run no risk of getting damp. They were both loaded; and, drawing back,
I got hold of one, hoping to shoot the bear before he was disturbed. If
I aroused my companions first, they to a certainty would make some
noise, which would probably frighten away our visitor, and we should
lose both the bear and the provisions.

When I agai