on the
dark waters.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY BEGIN TO DEVELOP--BRYAN DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF--
FISHING EXTRAORDINARY.

There is a calm but deep-seated and powerful pleasure which fills the
heart, and seems to permeate the entire being, when one awakens to the
conviction that a day of arduous toil is about to begin--toil of an
uncertain kind, perhaps connected with danger and adventure, in an
unexplored region of the earth. Ignorance always paints coming events
in glowing colours; and the mere fact that our adventurers knew not the
nature of the country in which their tent was pitched--knew not whether
the natives would receive them as friends or repel them as foes--knew
not whether the nature and capabilities of the country were such as
would be likely to convert the spot on which they lay into a comfortable
home or a premature grave;--the mere fact of being utterly ignorant on
these points was, in itself, sufficient to fill the poorest spirit of
the band (had there been a poor spirit among them) with a glow of
pleasurable excitement, and a firm resolve to tax their powers of doing
and suffering to the uttermost.

When the sun rose on the following morning the whole party was astir,
the fire lighted, and an early breakfast in course of preparation. Much
had to be done, and it behoved them to set about it with energy and at
once, for the short autumn of these arctic regions was drawing on apace,
and a winter of great length and of the utmost severity lay before them.

There was also one consideration which caused some anxiety to Stanley
and Frank, although it weighed little on the reckless spirits of the
men, and this was the possibility of the non-arrival of the ship with
their winter supply of provisions and goods for trade. Without such a
supply a winter on the shores of Ungava Bay would involve all the
hardships and extreme perils that too often fall to the lot of arctic
discoverers; and he who has perused the fascinating journals of those
gallant men, knows that these hardships and perils are neither few nor
light. The leaders of the expedition were not, indeed, men to
anticipate evils, or to feel unduly anxious about possible dangers; but
they would have been more or less than human had they been able to look
at Mrs Stanley and little Edith without a feeling of anxiety on their
account. This thought, however, did not influence them in their
actions; or, if it did, it only spurred th