at one another with haggard eyes. Hatteras remained without moving in
his corner; the doctor, as usual, paced up and down excitedly; he did
not know what was to be done.

The temperature in the room fell at once to -7 degrees.

But if the doctor was baffled and did not know what they should turn
their hands to, others knew very well. So Shandon, cold and resolute,
Pen, with wrath in his eyes, and two or three of his companions, such
as he could induce to accompany him, walked towards Hatteras.

"Captain!" said Shandon.

Hatteras, absorbed in his thoughts, did not hear him.

"Captain!" repeated Shandon, touching him with his hand.

Hatteras arose.

"Sir," he said.

"Captain, the fire is out."

"Well?" continued Hatteras.

"If you intend that we shall freeze to death," Shandon went on with
grim irony, "we should be glad if you would tell us."

"My intention," answered Hatteras with a deep voice, "is that every
man shall do his duty to the end."

"There's something superior to duty, Captain," answered his first
officer, "and that is the right of self-preservation. I repeat it, we
have no fire; and if this goes on, in two days not one of us will be
alive."

"I have no wood," answered Hatteras, gloomily.

"Well," shouted Pen, violently, "when the wood gives out, we must go
cut it where it grows!"

Hatteras grew pale with anger.

"Where is that?" he asked.

"On board," answered the sailor, insolently.

"On board!" repeated the captain, with clinched fists and sparkling
eyes.

"Of course," answered Pen, "when the ship can't carry the crew, the
ship ought to be burned."

At the beginning of this sentence Hatteras had grasped an axe; at its
end, this axe was raised above Pen's head.

[Illustration]

"Wretch!" he cried.

The doctor sprang in front of Pen, and thrust him back; the axe fell
on the floor, making a deep gash. Johnson, Bell, and Simpson gathered
around Hatteras, and seemed determined to support him. But plaintive,
grievous cries arose from the berths, transformed into death-beds.

"Fire, fire!" they cried, shivering beneath their now insufficient
covering.

Hatteras by a violent effort controlled himself, and after a few
moments of silence, he said calmly,--

"If we destroy the ship, how shall we get back to England?"

"Sir," answered Johnson, "perhaps we can without doing any material
damage burn the less important parts, the bulwarks, the nettings--"

"The small boats will be