but the Kolimsk men
rushed in. Two fired: the third struck the animal with a spear. The
bear abandoned Ivan, and faced his new antagonists. The contest was
now unequal, and before half an hour was over, the stock of provisions
was again augmented, as well as the means of warmth. They had very
little wood, and what they had was used sparingly. Once or twice
a tree, fixed in the ice, gave them additional fuel; but they were
obliged chiefly to count on oil. A small fire was made at night to
cook by; but it was allowed to go out, the tent was carefully closed,
and the caloric of six people, with a huge lamp with three wicks,
served for the rest of the night.

About the sixth day they struck land. It was a small island, in a bay
of which they found plenty of drift wood. Sakalar was delighted. He
was on the right track. A joyous halt took place, a splendid fire was
made, and the whole party indulged themselves in a glass of rum--a
liquor very rarely touched, from its known tendency to increase rather
than diminish cold. A hole was next broken in the ice, and an attempt
made to catch some seals. Only one, however, rewarded their efforts;
but this, with a supply of wood, filled the empty space made in the
sledges by the daily consumption of the dogs. But the island was
soon found to be infested with bears: no fewer than five, with eleven
foxes, were killed, and then huge fires had to be kept up at night to
drive their survivors away.

Their provender thus notably increased, the party started in high
spirits; but though they were advancing toward the pole, they were
also advancing toward the Deep Sea, and the ice presented innumerable
dangers. Deep fissures, lakes, chasms, mountains, all lay in their
way; and no game presented itself to their anxious search. Day after
day they pushed on--here making long circuits, there driven back, and
losing sometimes in one day all they had made in the previous twelve
hours. Some fissures were crossed on bridges of ice, which took hours
to make, while every hour the cold seemed more intense. The sun was
now visible for hours, and, as usual in these parts, the cold was more
severe since his arrival.

At last, after more than twenty days of terrible fatigue, there was
seen looming in the distance what was no doubt the promised land. The
sledges were hurried forward--for they were drawing toward the end of
their provisions--and the whole party was at length collected on the
summit of a loft