covered with a
steel shell. There was plenty of room for the men to exercise on deck
shielded from the pitiless storm that drove the snow like a storm of
gravel before it. Exposure to such a blizzard meant frost-bite,
perhaps death. The outside temperature was 40 below zero, the inside
temperature 40 above zero, cold enough to make the men digest an
Arctic diet.

We kept the prow of the ship to the storm, and every wave that washed
over us made thicker our cuirass of ice. It was gratifying to note the
contrast between our comfortable quarters and the howling desolation
around us.

While waiting for the storm to subside we had leisure to speculate on
the chances of success in discovering the pole.

Captain Wallace had caused to be put up in each of our four cabins the
following tables of Arctic progress made since Hudson's voyage in
1607:

RECORD OF HIGHEST LATITUDES REACHED.

Hudson 80' 23" in 1607
Phipps 80' 48" in 1773
Scoresby 81' 12" in 1806
Payer 82' 07" in 1872
Meyer 82' 09" in 1871
Parry 82' 45" in 1827
Aldrich 83' 07" in 1876
Markham 83' 20" in 1876
Lockwood 83' 24" in 1883

"Does it not seem strange," said I, "that nearly three hundred years
of naval progress and inventive skill can produce no better record in
polar discovery than this? With all our skill and experience we have
only distanced the heroic Hudson three degrees; that is one degree for
every hundred years. At this rate of progress the pole may be
discovered in the year 2600."

"It is a record of naval imbecility," said the captain; "there is no
reason why our expedition cannot at least touch the 85th degree. That
would be doing the work of two hundred years in as many days."

"Why not do the work of the next 700 years while we are at it?" said
Professor Rackiron. "Let us take the ship as far as we can go and then
bundle our dogs and a few of the best men into the balloon and finish
a job that the biggest governments on earth are unable to do."

"That's precisely what we've come here for," said I, "but we must have
prudence as well as boldness, so as not to throw away our lives
unnecessarily. In any case we will beat the record ere we return."

CHAPTER IV.

OUR ADVENTURES IN THE POLAR SEA.

The storm lasted four days. On its subsidence we discovered ourselves
completely surrounded with ice. We were beset by a veritable polar
pack, brought down by the vio