fact,
and very often only a few minutes intervene between a calm and a
frightful tempest. This was Hatteras's experience on the 23d of June,
in the middle of this huge bay.

The steadiest winds blow generally from the ice to the open sea, and
are very cold. On that day the thermometer fell several degrees; the
wind shifted to the southward, and the heavy gusts, having passed over
the ice, discharged themselves of their dampness under the form of a
thick snow. Hatteras immediately ordered the sails which were aiding
the engine to be reefed; but before this could be done his
main-topsail was carried away.

Hatteras gave his orders with the utmost coolness, and did not leave
the deck during the storm; he was obliged to run before the gale. The
wind raised very heavy waves which hurled about pieces of ice of every
shape, torn from the neighboring ice-fields; the brig was tossed about
like a child's toy, and ice was dashed against its hull; at one moment
it rose perpendicularly to the top of a mountain of water; its steel
prow shone like molten metal; then it sank into an abyss, sending
forth great whirls of smoke, while the screw revolved out the water
with a fearful clatter. Rain and snow fell in torrents.

The doctor could not miss such a chance to get wet to the skin; he
remained on deck, gazing at the storm with all the admiration such a
spectacle cannot fail to draw forth. One standing next to him could
not have heard his voice; so he said nothing, but looked, and soon he
saw a singular phenomenon, one peculiar to the northern seas.

[Illustration]

The tempest was confined to a small space of about three or four
miles; in fact, the wind loses much of its force in passing over the
ice, and cannot carry its violence very far; every now and then the
doctor would see, through some rift in the storm, a clear sky and a
quiet sea beyond the ice-fields; hence the _Forward_ had only to make
her way through the passes to find smooth sailing; but she ran a risk
of being dashed against the moving masses which obeyed the motion of
the waves. Notwithstanding, Hatteras succeeded in a few hours in
carrying his vessel into smooth water, while the violence of the
storm, now at its worst at the horizon, was dying away within a few
cable-lengths from the _Forward_.

Melville Bay then looked very different; by the influence of the winds
and waves a large number of icebergs had been detached from the shores
and were now floating no