d the surrounding rocks. The little which was left of the
ice-field seemed very soft; on the rocks were large pieces of
sea-weed. The ocean stretched beyond the line of vision, with no
island or new land peering above the horizon.

In the east and west were two capes gently sloping to the water; at
their end the sea was breaking, and the wind was carrying a slight
foam. The land of New America thus died away in the Polar Ocean,
quietly and gently. It rounded into an open bay, with roadstead
enclosed by the two promontories. In the middle a rock made a little
natural harbor, sheltered against three points of the compass; it ran
back into the land in the broad bed of a stream, through which ran
down the melted snows of winter, now forming a perfect torrent.

Hatteras, after noticing the outline of the coast, resolved to make
the preparations for departure that very day, to launch the boat, to
put the unloaded sledge on board for future excursions. That took all
day; then the tent was raised, and after a comfortable meal work
began. Meanwhile the doctor took out his instruments to take an
observation and determine the position of a part of the bay. Hatteras
hurried on the work; he was anxious to start; he wanted to leave the
land, and to be in advance in case any others should reach the sea.

At five o'clock in the evening Johnson and Bell had nothing to do but
to fold their arms. The launch was rocking gently in her little
harbor, with her mast set, her jib lowered, and her foresail in the
brails; the provisions and most of the things on the sledge had been
put on board; only the tent and a little of the camping material
remained to be put on board the next day. The doctor found all these
preparations complete on his return. When he saw the launch quietly
sheltered from the wind, it occurred to him to give a name to the
little harbor, and he proposed that of Altamont. This proposition was
unanimously agreed to. So it was named Altamont Harbor.

[Illustration: "The launch was rocking gently in her little harbor."]

According to the doctor's calculations, it lay in latitude 87 degrees
5 minutes, and longitude 118 degrees 35 minutes E. of Greenwich; that
is to say, less than three degrees from the Pole. The band had gone
more than two hundred miles from Victoria Bay to Altamont Harbor.

CHAPTER XXI.
THE OPEN SEA.

The next morning Johnson and Bell set about carrying on board the
camping material. At eight o'c