and there's a rig'lar
nor'-wester a-comin' down. The ice is sweepin' into the river, an'
it'll be choked up by to-morrow, I'm afraid."

Stanley received this piece of intelligence with a slight frown, and
looked seaward, where a dark line on the horizon and large fields of ice
showed that the man's surmise was likely to prove correct.

"It matters not," said Stanley, hastily; "I've made arrangements to
start to-morrow, and start we shall, in spite of ice or wind, if the
canoes will float!"

Massan, who had been constituted principal steersman of the expedition,
in virtue of his well-tried skill and indomitable energy, felt that the
tone in which this was said implied a want of confidence in his
willingness to go under _any_ circumstances, so he said gravely--

"Pardon, monsieur; I did not say we could not start."

"True, true, Massan; don't be hurt. I was only grumbling at the
weather," answered Stanley, with a laugh.

Just then the first puff of the coming breeze swept up the river,
ruffling its hitherto glassy surface.

"There it comes," cried Stanley, as he quitted the spot. "Now, Massan,
see to it that the crews are assembled in good time on the beach
to-morrow. We start at daybreak."

"Oui, monsieur," replied Massan, as he turned on his heel and walked
away. "Parbleu! we shall indeed start to morrow, an it please you, if
all the ice and wind in the polar regions was blowed down the coast and
crammed into the river's mouth. C'est vrai!"

CHAPTER FIVE.

ICE LOOKS UNPROPITIOUS--THE START--AN IMPORTANT MEMBER OF THE PARTY
NEARLY FORGOTTEN--CHIMO.

Stanley's forebodings and Massan's prognostications proved partly
incorrect on the following morning. The mouth of the river, and the sea
beyond, were quite full of ice; but it was loose, and intersected in all
directions by lanes of open water. Moreover, there was no wind.

The gray light of early morning brightened into dawn, and the first
clear ray of the rising sun swept over a scene more beautiful than ever
filled the fancy of the most imaginative poet of the Temperate Zones.
The sky was perfectly unclouded, and the surface of the sea was
completely covered with masses of ice, whose tops were pure white like
snow, and their sides a delicate greenish-blue, their dull, frosted
appearance forming a striking contrast to the surrounding water, which
shone, when the sun glanced upon it, like burnished silver. The masses
of ice varied endlessly in fo