w.

Sakalar now turned away in search of his companions, whose aid was
required to secure a most useful addition to their store of food; and
as he did so, he heard a distant and plaintive howl. He hastened in
the direction, and in a quarter of an hour came to the mouth of a
narrow gut between two icebergs. The stick of the harness had caught
in the fissure, and checked the dogs, who were barking with rage.
Sakalar caught the bridle, which had been jerked out of his hand,
and turned the dogs round. The animals followed his guidance, and he
succeeded, after some difficulty, in bringing them to where lay his
game. He then fastened the bear and seal, both dead and frozen even in
this short time, and joined his companions.

For several days the same kind of difficulties had to be overcome, and
then they reached the _sayba_, where the provisions had been placed in
the summer. It was a large rude box, erected on piles, and the whole
stock was found safe. As there was plenty of wood in this place they
halted to rest the dogs and re-pack the sledges. The tent was pitched,
and they all thought of repose. They were now about wholly to quit the
land, and to venture in a north-westerly direction on the Frozen Sea.

* * * * *

V.--ON THE ICE.

Despite the fire made on the iron plate in the middle of the tent,
our adventurers found the cold at this point of their journey most
poignant. It was about Christmas; but the exact time of year had
little to do with the matter. The wind was northerly, and keen: and
they often at night had to rise and promote circulation by a good run
on the snow. But early on the third day all was ready for a start.
The sun was seen that morning on the edge of the horizon for a short
while, and promised soon to give them days. Before them were a line
of icebergs, seemingly an impenetrable wall; but it was necessary
to brave them. The dogs, refreshed by two days of rest, started
vigorously, and a plain hill of ice being selected, they succeeded
in reaching its summit. Then before them lay a vast and seemingly
interminable plain. Along this the sledges ran with great speed; and
that day they advanced nearly thirty miles from the land, and camped
on the sea in a valley of ice.

It was a singular spot. Vast sugar-loaf hills of ice, as old perhaps
as the world, threw their lofty cones to the skies, on all sides,
while they rested doubtless on the bottom of the ocean. Every
fan