pt the horizon line with my glass.

There was no mistaking it: ice, ice, ice on every side. The little
canal through which we were steaming came to an end a mile farther on;
and that night we were frozen in fast, and knew that there was not a
chance of being set free till the next year.

The crew was divided into two parties at once, and without loss of time
I got one set at work lowering yards, striking masts, and covering in
the ship, while the others were busied with the preparation of the
sledges.

Two days after, a party of ten of us, with plenty of provisions on our
sledge, and a tent, started under the doctor's guidance for the Pole.

It was very cold, but the sun shone brightly, and we trudged on, the
doctor showing the value of his natural covering, though he was less
coated with furs than we were.

He pointed out to me the shape of the land, and which was frozen sea;
and at the end of two days, when we were in a wild place, all mighty
masses of ice, he declared his conviction that there was, after all, no
open Polar sea, only ice to the end.

We had had a bitter cold night, and had risen the next morning cold and
cheerless; but a good hot cup of coffee set us right, and we were
thinking of starting, when Scudds, who was with us, Abram being left in
command, kicked at a piece of ice, saying, "That's rum-looking stuff!"

"There's something in it," said the doctor's nephew, who was always in
the way.

"Let me see," said the doctor, putting on his spectacles. "To be sure--
yes! Axes, quick!"

He took one himself, gave the block of ice a sharp blow, split it in
halves, and, to our utter astonishment, a strange-looking animal like a
woolly dog lay before us, frozen, of course, perfectly hard.

"A prize!" said the doctor; and we, under his orders, made a good-sized
fire, laid the perfectly preserved animal by it, and at the end of a
couple of hours had the satisfaction of seeing it move one leg, then
another, and, at last, it rose slowly on all fours, raised one of its
hind legs, scratched itself in the most natural way in the world, and
then seemed to sink down all of a heap, and melt quite away, leaving
some loose wool on the snow.

"Well," said Scudds, rolling his one eye, "if I hadn't ha' seen that
'ere, I wouldn't ha' believed it!"

"Only a case of suspended animation, my man," said the doctor, calmly.
"We shall make more discoveries yet."

The doctor was right; for this set all the men huntin