a two-jointed one like a
fishing-rod; and--and my ice-boots that I wore in Switzerland."

"Bah!" said the doctor.

"And a climbing-rope."

"Pish!" exclaimed the doctor again.

"And--a pair of snow-shoes."

"Did you bring your skates, sir?"

"No, uncle; Fanny wanted me to, because she said I skated so
beautifully; but I knew you had come on business, so I left them
behind."

The doctor gave me a fat smile, and I turned round to check Scudds, for
fear he should laugh outright; and lucky I did, for he was just getting
ready for a tremendous roar, while Abram Bostock held his hands over his
mouth.

"Well, get below," said the doctor; "and the sooner you find your
sea-legs the better."

So our new member of the exploring expedition crawled below, and we set
to and trimmed sails, for the weather was changing, steam being reserved
till we wanted it to go through the ice.

We did not get along very fast, for the doctor was always stopping the
vessel for something, and the men soon fell in with his whims, and began
to enjoy helping him. One day, they would be busy bucketing up water,
for him to fill bottles with specimens of whales' food; another time, we
tried after a whale with a small gun and a harpoon fired from it, to the
great delight of the men. Then we came in sight of the first iceberg,
slowly sailing south, like a fairy castle on a fairy rock, that had
broken away from its land in the North, and taken to the sea. The sun
was shining upon it, and it was like one grand mass of turrets and
spires, glistening with silver, gold, and gems of every colour. Here
and there, it was split into great openings, with arches over them like
bridges; and near the sea were more archways, leading like into caves,
and all these places were of the most deep sapphire blue. All was so
beautiful, that even the old salts like Abram and Scudds said they had
never seen anything like it up North.

Of course, the doctor couldn't pass it without landing; and as there
were some seals and a few birds sitting on the farther side, I ran the
steamer close in, till, in the still water on the lee, we were able to
bring her close alongside of what was just like a natural wharf of ice;
when Scudds and four more got on the berg, a couple of ice-anchors were
passed over to them, and soon after we were made fast, and the doctor
took a gun, his nephew followed, and we had a good climb along the
wonderful sides of the iceberg.

"If we could