er, about twelve feet broad, which had two
doors, the one to shut it up from the outer air, the other to form a
communication with the inner room; this contributed greatly to keep the
large room warm when once heated. In the large room was an earthen
stove, constructed in the Russian manner; that is, a kind of oven
without a chimney, which served occasionally either for baking, for
heating the room, or, as is customary among the Russian peasants in very
cold weather, for a place to sleep upon. Our adventurers rejoiced
greatly at having discovered the hut, which had, however, suffered much
from the weather, it having now been built a considerable time; they,
however, contrived to pass the night in it.

"Early next morning they hastened to the shore, impatient to inform
their comrades of their success, and also to procure from their vessel
such provision, ammunition, and other necessaries, as might better
enable them to winter on the island. I leave my readers to figure to
themselves the astonishment and agony of mind these poor people must
have felt, when on reaching the place of their landing, they saw nothing
but an open sea, free from the ice, which but the day before had covered
the ocean. A violent storm, which had risen during the night, had
certainly been the cause of this disastrous event; but they could not
tell whether the ice, which had before hemmed in the vessel, agitated by
the violence of the waves, had been driven against her, and shattered
her to pieces; or, whether she had been carried by the current into the
main--a circumstance which frequently happens in those seas. Whatever
accident had befallen the ship, they saw her no more; and as no tidings
were ever afterwards received of her, it is most probable that she sunk,
and that all on board of her perished.

"This melancholy event depriving the unhappy wretches of all hope of
ever being able to quit the island, they returned to the hut, whence
they had come, full of horror and despair."

"Oh dear!" cried Tommy, at this passage, "what a dreadful situation
these poor people must have been in. To be in such a cold country,
covered with snow and frozen with ice, without anybody to help them, or
give them victuals; I should think they must all have died." "That you
will soon see," said Mr Barlow, "when you have read the rest of the
story; but tell me one thing, Tommy, before you proceed. These four men
were poor sailors, who had always been accustomed to