the ice would get caught in the screw, and it
was so hard that the engine could not break it; it was then necessary
to reverse the engines, turn the brig back, and send some men to free
the snow with axes and levers; hence arose many difficulties,
fatigues, and delays.

It went on in this way for thirteen days; the _Forward_ advanced
slowly through Penny Strait. The crew murmured, but obeyed; they knew
that retreat was now impossible. The advance towards the north was
less perilous than a return to the south; it was time to think of
going into winter-quarters.

The sailors talked together about their condition, and one day they
even began to talk with Shandon, who, they knew, was on their side. He
so far forgot his duty as an officer as to allow them to discuss in
his presence the authority of his captain.

"So you say, Mr. Shandon," asked Gripper, "that we can't go back now?"

"No, it's too late," answered Shandon.

"Then," said another sailor, "we need only look forward to going into
winter-quarters?"

"It's our only resource! No one would believe me--"

"The next time," said Pen, who had returned to duty, "they will
believe you."

"Since I sha'n't be in command--" answered Shandon.

"Who can tell?" remarked Pen. "John Hatteras is free to go as far as
he chooses, but no one is obliged to follow him."

"Just remember," resumed Gripper, "his first voyage to Baffin's Bay
and what came of it!"

"And the voyage of the _Farewell_," said Clifton, "which was lost in
the Spitzenberg seas under his command."

"And from which he came back alone," added Gripper.

"Alone, but with his dog," said Clifton.

"We don't care to sacrifice ourselves for the whims of that man,"
continued Pen.

"Nor to lose all the wages we've earned so hard."

They all recognized Clifton by those words.

"When we pass latitude 78 degrees," he added, "and we are not far from
it, that will make just three hundred and seventy-five pounds for each
man, six times eight degrees."

"But," asked Gripper, "sha'n't we lose them if we go back without the
captain?"

"No," answered Clifton, "if we can prove that it was absolutely
necessary to return."

"But the captain--still--"

"Don't be uneasy, Gripper," answered Pen; "we shall have a captain,
and a good one, whom Mr. Shandon knows. When a captain goes mad, he is
dismissed and another appointed. Isn't that so, Mr. Shandon?"

"My friends," answered Shandon, evasively, "you will always