ou, son, wherever it goes out, there's a hole in the ice.'

"Here we were interrupted by the mate, who said that there were queer
things going on overhead, and some of the sailors were ready to mutiny
unless the return trip was commenced. Captain Burrows went on deck at
once, and you may be sure I followed at his heels.

"'What's wrong here?' demanded the captain, in his roaring tone,
stepping into the midst of the crew.

"'A judgment against this pryin' into God's secrets, sir,' said an
English sailor, in an awe-struck voice. 'Look at the signs, sir,'
pointing overhead.

"Captain Burrows and I both looked over our heads, and there saw an
impressive sight, indeed. A vast colored map of an unknown world hung in
the clouds over us--a mirage from the aurora. It looked very near, and
was so distinct that we could distinguish polar bears on the ice-crags.
One man insisted that the mainmast almost touched one snowy peak, and
most of them actually believed that it was an inverted part of some
world, slowly coming down to crush us. Captain Burrows looked for
several minutes before he spoke. Then he said: 'My men, this is the
grandest proof of all that Providence is helping us. This thing that you
see is only a picture; it's a mirage, the reflection of a portion of the
earth on the sky. Just look, and you will see that it's in the shape of
a crescent, and we are almost in the center of it; and, I tell you, it's
a picture of the country just in front of us. See this peak? See that
low place where we went up? There is the great wall we saw, the open sea
beyond it, and, bless me, if it don't look like something green over in
the middle of that ocean! See, here is the "Duncan McDonald," as plain
as A, B, C, right overhead. Now, there's nothing to be afraid of in
that; if it's a warning, it's a good one--and if any one wants to go
home to his mother's, and is old enough, _he can walk_!'

[Illustration: "A white city ... was visible for an instant."]

"The captain looked around, but the sailors were as cool as he was--they
were reassured by his honest explanation. Then he took me by the arm,
and, pointing to the painting in the sky, said: 'Old man Providence
again, son, sure as you are born; do you see that lane through the great
ring? There's an open, fairly straight passage to the inner ocean,
except that it's closed by about three miles of ice on our side; see it
there, on the port side?'

"Yes, I could see it, but I asked C