right thing; for, ye
see, he runs no small risk o' getting beset in the ice, and losing the
fishin' altogether by so doin'."

"He's a fine fellow," said Singleton; "I like him better every day, and
I feel convinced he will do his utmost to discover the whereabouts of
our missing friend; but I fear much that our chances are small, for,
although we know the spot which Captain Ellice intended to visit, we
cannot tell to what part of the frozen ocean ice and currents may have
carried him."

"True," replied Buzzby, giving to his left eye and cheek just that
peculiar amount of screw which indicated intense sagacity and
penetration; "but I've a notion that, if they are to be found, Captain
Guy is the man to find 'em."

"I hope it may turn out as you say. Have you ever been in these seas
before, Buzzby?"

"No, sir--never; but I've got a half-brother wot has bin in the
Greenland whale-fishery, and I've bin in the South Sea line myself."

"What line was that, Buzzby?" inquired David Summers, a sturdy boy of
about fifteen, who acted as assistant steward, and was, in fact, a
nautical maid-of-all-work. "Was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a
cod-line, or a bit of the equator, eh?"

The old salt deigned no reply to this passing sally, but continued his
converse with Singleton.

"I could give ye many a long yarn about the South Seas," said Buzzby,
gazing abstractedly down into the deep. "One time when I was about fifty
miles to the sou'-west o' Cape Horn, I--"

"Dinner's ready, sir," said a thin, tall, active man, stepping smartly
up to Singleton, and touching his cap.

"We must talk over that some other time, Buzzby. The captain loves
punctuality." So saying, the young surgeon sprang down the companion
ladder, leaving the old salt to smoke his pipe in solitude.

And here we may pause a few seconds to describe our ship and her crew.

The _Dolphin_ was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel of about three
hundred tons burden, built expressly for the northern whale-fishery, and
carried a crew of forty-five men. Ships that have to battle with the ice
require to be much more powerfully built than those that sail in
unencumbered seas. The _Dolphin_ united strength with capacity and
buoyancy. The under part of her hull and sides were strengthened with
double timbers, and fortified externally with plates of iron, while,
internally, stanchions and crossbeams were so arranged as to cause
pressure on any part to be supported by the w