ving been determined by the lead of the lanes
in the enormous drifts of ice. Here another storm overtook us,
travelling due east. We were once more beset, and drifted
helplessly for three days before the storm subsided. We found
ourselves in long. 150' again, in danger of being nipped. The wind,
suddenly drifting to the east, reopened the pack for us to our intense
relief.

Taking advantage of some fine leads and favorable winds, we passed
through leagues of ice, piled-up floes and floebergs, forming scenes
of Arctic desolation beyond imagination to conceive. At last we
arrived at a place beyond which it was impossible to proceed. We had
struck against the gigantic barrier of what appeared to be an immense
continent of ice, for a range of ice-clad hills lay only a few miles
north of the _Polar King_. At last the sceptre of the Ice King waved
over us with the command, "Thus far and no further."

CHAPTER V.

WE ENTER THE POLAR GULF.

How the _Polar King_ penetrated what appeared an insurmountable
obstacle, and the joyful proof that the hills did not belong to a
polar continent, but were a continuous congregation of icebergs,
frozen in one solid mass, are already known to the reader.

The gallant ship continued to make rapid progress toward the open
water lying ahead of us. Mid-day found us in 84' 10" north latitude
and 150' west longitude. The sun remained in the sky as usual to add
his splendor to our day of deliverance and exultation.

We felt what it was to be wholly cut off from the outer world. The
chances were that the passage in the ice would be frozen up solid
again soon after we had passed through it. Even with our dogs and
sledges the chances were against our retreat southward.

The throbbing of the engine was the only sound that broke the
stillness of the silent sea. The laugh of the sailors sounded hollow
and strange, and seemed a reminder that with all our freedom we were
prisoners of the ice, sailing where no ship had ever sailed nor human
eye gazed on such a sea of terror and beauty.

Happily we were not the only beings that peopled the solitudes of the
pole. Flocks of gulls, geese, ptarmigan, and other Arctic fowls
wheeled round us. They seemed almost human in their movements, and
were the links that bound us to the beating hearts far enough off then
to be regretted by us.

Every man on board the vessel was absorbed in thought concerning our
strange position. The beyond? That was the mo