ntemplated expedition to the audience which surrounded him.

He began in these words:

"Brother officers and men of the _Wanderer_ and _Sea-mew_, it is my
duty to tell you, very briefly, the reasons which have decided Captain
Ebsworth and myself on dispatching an exploring party in search of help.
Without recalling all the hardships we have suffered for the last two
years--the destruction, first of one of our ships, then of the other;
the death of some of our bravest and best companions; the vain battles
we have been fighting with the ice and snow, and boundless desolation of
these inhospitable regions--without dwelling on these things, it is
my duty to remind you that this, the last place in which we have taken
refuge, is far beyond the track of any previous expedition, and that
consequently our chance of being discovered by any rescuing parties that
may be sent to look after us is, to say the least of it, a chance of the
most uncertain kind. You all agree with me, gentlemen, so far?"

The officers (with the exception of Wardour, who stood apart in sullen
silence) all agreed, so far.

The captain went on.

"It is therefore urgently necessary that we should make another, and
probably a last, effort to extricate ourselves. The winter is not far
off, game is getting scarcer and scarcer, our stock of provisions is
running low, and the sick--especially, I am sorry to say, the sick in
the _Wanderer_'s hut--are increasing in number day by day. We must look
to our own lives, and to the lives of those who are dependent on us; and
we have no time to lose."

The officers echoed the words cheerfully.

"Right! right! No time to lose."

Captain Helding resumed:

"The plan proposed is, that a detachment of the able-bodied officers and
men among us should set forth this very day, and make another effort to
reach the nearest inhabited settlements, from which help and provisions
may be dispatched to those who remain here. The new direction to be
taken, and the various precautions to be adopted, are all drawn out
ready. The only question now before us is, Who is to stop here, and who
is to undertake the journey?"

The officers answered the question with one accord--"Volunteers!"

The men echoed their officers. "Ay, ay, volunteers."

Wardour still preserved his sullen silence. Crayford noticed him.
standing apart from the rest, and appealed to him personally.

"Do you say nothing?" he asked.

"Nothing," Wardour answered.