thout any brothers or sisters to keep it
company."

"Under-currents brought it here, lad," said the Captain. "You see, such
a monster as that must go very deep down, and the warm under-current has
not yet melted away enough of his base to permit the surface-current to
carry him south like the smaller members of his family. He is still
travelling north, but that won't last long. He'll soon become small
enough to put about and go the other way. I never saw a bigger fellow
than that, Benjy. Hayes, the American, mentions one which he measured,
about 315 feet high, and nearly a mile long. It had been grounded for
two years. He calculated that there must have been seven times as much
of it below water as there was above, so that it was stranded in nearly
half-a-mile depth of water. This berg cannot be far short of that one
in size."

"Hm! probably then his little brothers and sisters are being now crushed
to bits in Baffin's Bay," said Benjy.

"Not unlikely, Ben, if they've not already been melted in the Atlantic,
which will be this one's fate at last--sooner or later."

From a pool on this berg they obtained a supply of pure fresh water.

When our explorers did at last sight the land it came upon them
unexpectedly, in the form of an island so low that they were quite close
before observing it. The number of gulls hovering above it might have
suggested its presence, but as these birds frequently hover in large
flocks over shoals of small fish, little attention was paid to them.

"Is this your native land, Chingatok?" asked the Captain, quickly.

"No, it is over there," said the Eskimo, pointing to the distant
horizon; "this is the first of the islands."

As they gazed they perceived a mountain-shaped cloud so faint and far
away that it had almost escaped observation. Advancing slowly, this
cloud was seen to take definite form and colour.

"I _knew_ it was!" said Benjy, "but was afraid of making another
mistake."

Had the boy or his father looked attentively at the giant just then,
they would have seen that his colour deepened, his eyes glittered, and
his great chest heaved a little more than was its wont, as he looked
over his shoulder while labouring at the oars. Perhaps we should have
said played with the oars, for they were mere toys in his grasp.
Chingatok's little mother also was evidently affected by the sight of
home. But the Captain and his son saw it not--they were too much
occupied with their