ad not
been cognisant of.

"We are coaling here, do you see?" he said. "It was one of Black's
inspirations to choose Greenland for his hole; it is one of the few
comparatively uninhabited countries in the world where coal is to be
had, somewhat of a poorer quality than the anthracite we are accustomed
to use, but very welcome when we are close pressed. He is filling his
bunkers now, in case we should decide to break up this party before the
end of the winter. That will depend on our friends over in Europe. We
have given them a nightmare, but it won't last, and they'll go to bed
again to get another."

"Who are your miners?" I asked suddenly, interrupting him, for I saw
that the rock above the nameless ship was pierced with tunnels leading
down to the shafts, and that forty or fifty coal-black fellows were
shooting the stuff into the bunkers.

"These are our guests," he said lightly, "honest British seamen whose
voyages have been interrupted. We give them the alternative of work in
the mine, or their liberty on the snow yonder."

"But how can they live in such a place?"

He laughed as though the whole thing were a joke.

"They don't live," said he. "They die like vermin."

"I'm evidently afloat with a lot of fine-spirited fellows," said I;
"or, to put it in plain English, with a beautiful company of
blackguards."

"Why not say with a lot of devils--that would be more accurate? But you
can't forget that you came to us unasked, and now you must stop."

His leer at this sally was terribly expressive, and I showed all the
contempt I felt for him, turning away to the sea fondly, as the hope of
my liberty, since thence only should it come. He read my thoughts,
perhaps, taking me by the arm with unsought pretence of kindness, and
he said--

"Don't let's dissect each other's morals; we have the place to see, and
you must be getting hungry. I will show you only one thing before we
go--it is our cemetery."

It was not a fascinating prospect, yet I followed him across the high
plateau to the creek wherein the rock-house was, but to the side which
was opposite to my bedroom window. There he descended the face of the
cliff by rough steps; and entered one of the passages which I had
observed from my chamber. The passage was long and low, lighted by
ships' lanterns at intervals, and I discovered that it led to a great
cavern which opened to the face of one of the glaciers going down to
the sea on the farther side. Nor ha