o was the thirteenth
passenger in an omnibus when he was a young man, and who died that very
night, having slipped off the back step, where he was obliged to stand,
and fractured his skull.

At last there came a day when a message in cipher from Roland Clewe
delivered itself on board the Dipsey, and from that moment a hitherto
unknown sense of security seemed to pervade the minds of officers and
crew. To be sure, there was no good reason for this, for if disaster
should overtake them, or even threaten them, there was no submarine boat
ready to send to their rescue; and if there had been, it would be long,
long before such aid could reach them; but still, they were comforted,
encouraged, and cheered. Now, if anything happened, they could send
news of it to the man in whom they all trusted, and through him to their
homes, and whatever their far-away friends had to say to them could be
said without reserve.

There was nothing yet of definite scientific importance to report,
but the messages of the Master Electrician were frequent and long,
regardless of expense, and, so far as her husband would permit her,
Sarah Block informed Mrs. Raleigh of the discouragements and dangers
which awaited this expedition. It must be said, however, that Mrs. Block
never proposed to send back one word which should indicate that she was
in favor of the abandonment of the expedition, or of her retirement from
it should opportunity allow. She had set out for the north pole because
Sammy was going there, and the longer she went "polin'" with him, the
stronger became her curiosity to see the pole and to know what it looked
like.

The Dipsey was not expected to be, under any circumstances, a swift
vessel, and now, retarded by her outside attachments, she moved but
slowly under the waters. The telegraphic wire which she laid as
she proceeded was the thinnest and lightest submarine cable ever
manufactured, but the mass of it was of great weight, and as it found
its way to the bottom it much retarded the progress of the vessel, which
moved more slowly than was absolutely necessary, for fear of breaking
this connection with the living world.

Onward, but a few knots an hour, the Dipsey moved like a fish in the
midst of the sea. The projectors of the enterprise had a firm belief
that there was a channel from Baffin's Bay into an open polar sea, which
would be navigable if its entrance were not blocked up by ice, and on
this belief were based all th