rest, alas! in untimely
graves.

Captain Harvey was one of our restless spirits. He had a deeply learned
friend who said to him one day that he felt sure "_there was a sea of
open water round the North Pole_!" Hundreds of ships had tried to reach
that pole without success, because they always found a barrier of thick
ice raised against them. This friend said that if a ship could only cut
or force its way through the ice to a certain latitude north, open water
would be found. Captain Harvey was much interested in this. He could
not rest until he had proved it. He had plenty of money, so had his
friend. They resolved to buy a vessel and send it to the seas lying
within the Arctic circle. Other rich friends helped them; a brig was
bought, it was named the _Hope_, and, as we have seen in the last
chapter, it finally set sail under command of Captain Harvey.

Many days and nights passed, and the _Hope_ kept her course steadily
toward the coast of North America. Greenland was the first land they
hoped to see. Baffin's Bay was the strait through which they hoped to
reach the open polar sea.

The _Hope_ left England as a whaler, with all the boats, lances,
harpoons, lines, and other apparatus used in the whale fishery. It was
intended that she should do a little business in that way if Captain
Harvey thought it advisable, but the discovery of new lands and seas was
their chief end and aim.

At first the weather was fine, the wind fair, and the voyage prosperous.
But one night there came a deep calm. Not a breath of air moved over
the sea, which was as clear and polished as a looking-glass. The
captain walked the deck with the surgeon of the ship, a nephew of his
own, named Gregory.

Tom Gregory was a youth of about nineteen, who had not passed through
the whole course of a doctor's education, but who was a clever fellow,
and better able to cut and carve and physic poor suffering humanity than
many an older man who wrote M.D. after his name. He was a fine,
handsome, strapping fellow, with a determined manner and a kind heart.
He was able to pull an oar with the best man aboard, and could even
steer the brig in fine weather, if need be. He was hearty and romantic,
and a great favourite with the men. He, too, was a restless spirit. He
had grown tired of college life, and had made up his mind to take a
year's run into the Polar regions, by way of improving his knowledge of
the "outlandish" parts of the world.