mediately after arriving. Perhaps they would
not let us go, so I fear that we shan't gain the end of our journey yet
a while, but that does not matter much, for we're sure to make it out at
last."

"What makes the matter more uncertain," resumed the Captain, as they
sauntered back to camp, "is the fact that this northern archipelago is
peopled by different tribes of Eskimos, some of whom are of a warlike
spirit and frequently give the others trouble. However, Chingatok says
we shall have no difficulty in reaching this Nothing--as he will insist
on styling the Pole, ever since I explained to him that it was not a
real but an imaginary point."

"I wonder how Anders ever got him to understand what an imaginary point
is," said Benjy.

"That has puzzled me too," returned the Captain, "but he did get it
screwed into him somehow, and the result is--Nothing!"

"Out of nothing nothing comes," remarked Leo, as the giant suddenly
appeared from behind a rock, "but assuredly _nothing_ can beat Chingatok
in size or magnificence, which is more than anything else can."

The Eskimo had been searching for the absentees to announce that dinner
was ready, and that Toolooha was impatient to begin; they all therefore
quickened their pace, and soon after came within scent of the savoury
mess which had been prepared for them by the giant's squat but amiable
mother.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

ARRIVAL IN POLOELAND.

Fortune, which had hitherto proved favourable to our brave explorers,
did not desert them at the eleventh hour.

Soon after their arrival at Refuge Island a fair wind sprang up from the
south, and when the _Charity_ had been carefully patched and repaired,
the kites were sent up and the voyage was continued. That day and night
they spent again upon the boundless sea, for the island was soon left
out of sight behind them, though the wind was not very fresh.

Towards morning it fell calm altogether, obliging them to haul down the
kites and take to the oars.

"It can't be far off now, Chingatok," said the Captain, who became
rather impatient as the end drew near.

"Not far," was the brief reply.

"Land ho!" shouted Benjy, about half-an-hour after that.

But Benjy was forced to admit that anxiety had caused him to take an
iceberg on the horizon for land.

"Well, anyhow you must admit," said Benjy, on approaching the berg,
"that it's big enough for a fellow to mistake it for a mountain. I
wonder what it's doing here wi