nge to us. But follow the line of beetling crags and mountain peaks
where you would, the northern side presented a solid blank wall of awful
rocks, in many places the summit overhanging and the shore well under in
the mighty shadow. Nothing that any of us had ever seen in nature before
was so impressive, so awful. We started on our return, after a couple of
hours of the awe-inspiring sight beyond the great ring, and for full two
hours not a man spoke.

"'Father Burrows,' said I, 'what do you think that is back there?'

"'No man knows, my son, and it will devolve on you and me to name it;
but we won't unless we get to it and can take back proofs.'

"'Do you think we could get down the other side?'

"'No, I don't think so, and we seem to have struck it in the lowest spot
in sight. I'd give ten years of my life if the 'Duncan McDonald' was
over there in that duck pond.'

"'Captain,' said Eli Jeffries, the second mate, 'do you know what I've
been thinkin'? I believe that 'ere water we seen is an open passage from
the Behring side of the frozen ocean over agin' some of them 'ere
Roosian straits. If we could get round to the end of it, we'd sail right
through the great Northwest Passage.'

"'You don't think there is land over there somewhere?'

"'Nope.'

"'Didn't take notice that the face of your "passage" was granite or
quartz rocks, hey? Didn't notice all them animals and birds, hey?--'

"'Look out!' yelled the man ahead with the dog-sledge.

"A strange, whirring noise was heard in the foggy light, that sounded
over our heads. We all dropped to the ground, and the noise increased,
until a big flock of huge birds passed over us in rapid flight north.
There must have been thousands of them. Captain Burrows brought his
shot-gun to his shoulder and fired. There were some wild screams in the
air, and a bird came down to the ice with a loud thud. It looked very
large a hundred feet away, but sight is very deceiving in this white
country in the semi-darkness. We found it a species of duck, rather
large and with gorgeous plumage.

"'Goin' north, to Eli's "passage" to lay her eggs on the ice,' said the
captain, half sarcastically.

"We reached the ship in safety, and the captain and I spent long hours
in trying to form some plan for getting beyond the great ice-ring.

"'If it's warm up there, and everything that we've seen says it is, all
this cold water that's going north gets warm and goes out some place;
and rest y