air; nowhere was
there a break or an opening. They seemed to be in a great icy prison. It
might be supposed that it would be exhilarating to a party who had long
been submerged beneath the sea to stand once more in the open air and in
the light of day; but this was not the case. The air they breathed was
sharp and cold, and cut into throats and lungs now accustomed to the
softer air within their vessel. Scarcely any of them, hurrying out of
the warm cabins, had thought of the necessity of heavy wraps, and
the bitter cold of the outer air perceptibly chilled their blood.
Involuntarily, even while they were staring about them, they hurried up
and down the deck to keep themselves warm.

The officers puzzled their brains over the peculiar formation of this
ice-encompassed lake. It seemed as if a great ice mountain had sunk down
from the midst of its companions, and had left this awful hole. This,
however, was impossible. No law of nature would account for such a
disappearance of an ice mountain. Mr. Gibbs thought, under some peculiar
circumstances, a mass of ice might have broken away and floated from
its surroundings, and that afterwards, increased in size, it had floated
back again, and, too large to re-enter the opening it had made, had
closed up the frozen walls of this lonely lake, accessible only to those
who should rise up into it from the sea. Suddenly Mrs. Block stopped.

"What is that?" she cried, pointing to a spot in the icy wall which was
nearest to the vessel. Instantly every eye was turned that way. They saw
a very distinct, irregular blotch, surrounded by almost transparent ice.

Several glasses were now levelled upon this spot, and it was discovered
to be the body of a polar bear, lying naturally upon its side, as if
asleep, and entirely incased in ice.

"It must have lain down to die, on the surface of the ice," said Mr.
Gibbs, "and gradually the ice has formed above it, until it now rests in
that vast funeral casket."

"How long since he laid down there to die, Mr. Gibbs?" asked Sarah,
as she took the glass from her eye. "He looks as natural as if he was
asleep."

"I cannot say," he answered. "It may have been hundreds, even thousands,
of years ago."

"Oh, horrible!" said Sarah. "All that makes me shiver, and I am sure I
don't need anything to make me do that. I wish we would go down,
Sammy; I would like to get out of this awful place, with those dreadful
glitterin' walls that nobody could get up