ago to
search for this very `North Pole' that _we_ have got hold of at last.
But your first father was not the leader, old boy. He was only a
seaman. The leader was Henry Hudson--a man who ranks among the foremost
of Arctic explorers. He won't be able to understand what that means,
Anders, but no matter--translate it the best way you can. This Henry
Hudson was one of the most thorough and extensive searchers of these
regions that ever sailed the northern seas. He made many important
discoveries, and set out on his last voyage intending to sail right over
the North Pole to China, which I daresay he would have done, had not his
rascally crew mutinied and cast him and his little son, with seven other
men, adrift in a little boat--all of whom perished, no doubt, except
your first father, Makitok, my ancient tulip!"

He wound up this summary by grasping and shaking the wizard's hand, and
then flung off, to expend his feelings on other members of the
community.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

A RUNAWAY JOURNEY AND A TREMENDOUS EXPERIMENT.

As winter advanced, Captain Vane continued to keep up the interest of
the Eskimos, and to increase their respect for the Kablunets, by
gradually unfolding the various sources of power which were at his
command.

He did this judiciously, just giving them a taste of the marvellous now
and then to whet their appetites. He was particularly careful, however
not to practise on their credulity or to pass himself off as a conjuror.
He distinctly stated that all his powers were derived from
God,--_their_ father and _his_,--and that he only excelled them in some
matters because of having had better opportunities of acquiring
knowledge.

Among other things, he effected an adaptation of his kites which
produced results so surprising that we feel bound to describe them
particularly.

During the winter he found, as he had expected, that the average
temperature at the Pole was not nearly so cold as that experienced in
lower latitudes. As far as mere feeling went, indeed, the cold seemed
severe enough; nevertheless it was not sufficiently intense to freeze
the great ocean, which remained an "open basin" all the year round,--a
result which was doubtless owing to the upflow of the warm
under-currents from the equator, referred to in a previous chapter.

This, however, did not apply to the waters lying directly around the
Poloe and Flatland groups. In these archipelagos the waters being
shallow