the _Forward_ left on its right Kingston Bay, near the
seventy-fourth degree of latitude; Lancaster Sound opened into the sea
many hundred miles to the west.

But then this vast expanse of water was hidden beneath enormous fields
of ice, in which arose the hummocks, uniform as a homogeneous
crystallization. Shandon had the furnace-fires lighted, and until the
11th of May the _Forward_ advanced by a tortuous course, tracing with
her smoke against the sky the path she was following through the
water.

But new obstacles soon presented themselves; the passages were closing
in consequence of the incessant crowding of the floating masses; every
moment threatened to close up the clear water before the _Forward_,
and if she were nipped, it would be hard to get her out. Every one
knew it and was thinking about it.

Hence, on board of this ship without any definite aim, any known
destination, which was blindly pushing on northward, some symptoms of
hesitation began to appear; among these men accustomed to dangers,
many, forgetting the advantages which were promised them, regretted
having ventured so far. A certain demoralization became common, which
was further increased by the fears of Clifton and the talk of two or
three ringleaders, such as Pen, Gripper, Warren, and Wolston.

Exhausting fatigue was added to the moral disquiet of the crew, for,
on the 12th of May, the brig was caught fast; the steam was of no
avail. A path had to be cut through the ice. It was no easy task to
manage the saws in the floes which were six or seven feet thick; when
two parallel grooves had divided the ice for a hundred feet, it was
necessary to break the part that lay between with axes and bars; next
they had to fasten anchors in a hole made by a huge auger; then the
crew would turn the capstan and haul the ship along by the force of
their arms; the greatest difficulty consisted in driving the detached
pieces beneath the floes, so as to give space for the vessel, and they
had to be pushed under by means of long iron-headed poles.

[Illustration]

Moreover, this continued toil with saws, capstan, and poles, all of
which was persistent, compulsory, and dangerous, amid the dense fog or
snow, while the air was so cold, and their eyes so exposed, their
doubt so great, did much to weaken the crew of the _Forward_ and to
act on their imagination.

When sailors have to deal with a man who is energetic, bold, and
determined, who knows what he want