on, to
the Pole!"

"Of course you do not intend that we should swim there, do you, uncle?"
said Leo.

"Of course not, my boy. In those big cases, which have cost us so much
labour to bring here, I have three large and stout india-rubber boats--"

"Ha! I guessed as much," exclaimed Alf.

"No doubt," returned the Captain, "but you did not guess all."

"I hope not," said Leo, "for to say truth I don't much relish the idea
of rowing over an unknown sea an unknown distance at the rate of three
or four miles an hour. I hope you have a patent steam-engine that will
drive us along somewhat faster."

"No, lad, no, I have no such steam-engine or any other miraculous
contrivance that sets the laws of nature at defiance, and appears only
in nursery tales. This expedition has been undertaken on no haphazard
or insane plan. It was all cut and dry before we left Old England, and
it is much simpler than you suppose."

"What, then, is to be your motive power, if not oars or sails--which
last would not work well, I fear, in an india-rubber boat?" asked Leo.

"Kites," replied the Captain.

"Kites!" repeated both Alf and Leo in surprise.

"Not paper ones, surely," said Benjy, in a tone of disappointment, not
unmingled with contempt.

"No, Ben, not paper ones," said the Captain, "but you shall see. Let
the boxes be unlashed and carried into yonder cave. I'll unpack them
presently. Meanwhile, Anders, I want you to interpret for me. Go, tell
Chingatok I wish to have a talk with him."

While the brothers went to obey their leader's order, and Benjy to
superintend the pitching of the camp, Captain Vane walked along the
shore with Anders and the giant.

"Are you sure, Chingatok, that there is no more ice in this sea?" asked
the Captain.

"No more great packs; only a little here and there, and a few
ice-mountains," answered the Eskimo.

"And no more islands?"

"No more islands till you come to the land where I and my people dwell.
There are more islands beyond that with people on them--people who are
not friendly to us."

"How far off, now, is your land from this island?" continued the
Captain, with a grave nod to Leo, who joined them at the moment.

"About three days with a kayak."

The Captain pondered for a few minutes.

"Leo," he said, "the observation which I took yesterday enables me to
place this island in latitude 86 degrees 40 minutes. I judge that a
kayak may travel at the rate of three miles an hour