them to make the hole from the
outside, and in any danger they would not be able to escape from their
enemies.

Pen and Warren hastened to this crevasse, and then, in spite of his
obstinate struggles, the dog was pitilessly cast into the sea; a huge
cake of ice they then rolled over the aperture, closing all means of
escape for the poor dog, thus locked in a watery prison.

[Illustration]

"A pleasant journey, Captain!" cried the brutal sailor.

Soon they returned on board; Johnson had seen nothing of it all; the
fog was growing thick about the ship, and the snow was beginning to
fall with violence.

An hour later, Richard Shandon, the doctor, and Garry regained the
_Forward_.

Shandon had observed in the northeast a passage, which he determined
to try. He gave his orders to that effect; the crew obeyed with a
certain activity; they wanted to convince Shandon of the impossibility
of a farther advance, and besides, they had before them three days of
obedience.

During a part of the following night and day the sawing and towing
went on busily; the _Forward_ made about two miles of progress. On the
18th they were in sight of land, five or six cable-lengths from a
strange peak, to which its singular shape had given the name of the
Devil's Thumb.

[Illustration]

At this very place the _Prince Albert_, in 1851, the _Advance_, with
Kane, in 1853, had been caught in the ice for many weeks.

The odd shape of the Devil's Thumb, the barren and desolate
surroundings, which consisted of huge icebergs often more than three
hundred feet high, the cracking of the ice, repeated indefinitely by
the echo, made the position of the _Forward_ a very gloomy one.
Shandon saw that it was necessary to get away from there; within
twenty-four hours, he calculated he would be able to get two miles
from the spot. But that was not enough. Shandon felt himself
embarrassed by fear, and the false position in which he was placed
benumbed his energy; to obey his instructions in order to advance, he
had brought his ship into a dangerous position; the towing wore out
his men; more than three hours were necessary to cut a canal twenty
feet in length through ice which was generally four or five feet
thick; the health of the crew gave signs of failing. Shandon was
astonished at the silence of the men, and their unaccustomed
obedience; but he feared it was only the calm that foreboded a storm.

We can, then, easily judge of the painful surprise