emainder of the crew waited for something to turn
up, ready to take any advantage in their own interest. There was no
longer that unity of thought and communion of ideas on board which
are so necessary for the accomplishment of anything great, and this
Hatteras knew to his sorrow.

During the day two whales were perceived rushing towards the south;
a white bear was also seen, and was shot at without any apparent
success. The captain knew the value of an hour under the circumstances,
and would not allow the animal to be chased.

On Wednesday morning the extremity of Regent's Channel was passed;
the angle on the west coast was followed by a deep curve in the land.
By consulting his map the doctor recognised the point of Somerset
House, or Fury Point.

"There," said he to his habitual companion--"there is the very spot
where the first English ship, sent into these seas in 1815, was lost,
during the third of Parry's voyages to the Pole; the _Fury_ was so
damaged by the ice on her second wintering, that her crew were obliged
to desert her and return to England on board her companion ship the
_Hecla_."

"That shows the advantage of having a second ship," answered Johnson.
"It is a precaution that Polar navigators ought not to neglect, but
Captain Hatteras wasn't the sort of man to trouble himself with
another ship."

"Do you think he is imprudent, Johnson?" asked the doctor.

"I? I think nothing, Mr. Clawbonny. Do you see those stakes over there
with some rotten tent-rags still hanging to them?"

"Yes; that's where Parry disembarked his provisions from his ship,
and, if I remember rightly, the roof of his tent was a topsail."

"Everything must be greatly changed since 1825!"

"Not so much as any one might think. John Ross owed the health and
safety of his crew to that fragile habitation in 1829. When the _Prince
Albert_ sent an expedition there in 1851, it was still existing;
Captain Kennedy had it repaired, nine years ago now. It would be
interesting to visit it, but Hatteras isn't in the humour to stop!"

"I daresay he is right, Mr. Clawbonny; if time is money in England,
here it is life, and a day's or even an hour's delay might make all
the difference."

During the day of Thursday, the 1st of June, the _Forward_ cut across
Creswell Bay; from Fury Point the coast rose towards the north in
perpendicular rocks three hundred feet high; it began to get lower
towards the south; some snow summits looked like neatly