, and I heer'd as they wanted a
man or two to fill up, because a couple had deserted to the diggings.

"Whar for?" I says to the officer.

"Discovering--up North," he says.

"That'll do," I says. "I'm yer man; only I don't think as you'll get
gold if you finds it, 'cause the water'll all freeze when you wants to
wash it."

"We want to find the North Pole, my lad," he says.

"And what'll yer do with it when yer find it?" I says.

"The president wants it down in New York, to put in the big gardens, for
the Great Bear to climb, if we can catch him, too."

Wal, seeing as it promised plenty of amusement, I stuck to my bond, and
went with them. And a fine time we had of shooting, and sledging, and
exploring. We found the North Pole, after being away from the ship a
month. One chap swore it was only the mast of a friz-up ship, sticking
out of the ice; but skipper said it was the North Pole, and I cut a bit
off with the saw. That's a bit as I'm whittling.

We couldn't get it out then, so we turned back to reach the ship, and
get tackle to rig out and draw it; and while we was going back I turned
so snoozy that, 'gainst orders, I lay down on the ice and went off bang
to sleep. Ain't seen anything of 'em, I 'spose?

"Well, no," said the doctor, winking at us, as the Yankee whittled away,
"I haven't. You expect to see them again?"

"'Spect? Of course I do. They'll come back to pull up the North Pole,
and pick me up on the way. If they don't I'll show you where it lies."

"Lies; yes, where it lies," said the doctor. "Well, whereabouts does it
lie?"

"Heigh-ho--yaw--aw--aw--hum?" went the Yankee, with the most awful yawn
I ever heard; and then, as we looked, he seemed to go all at once into
water--body, clothes, bones, and all--till there was nothing left before
us but the knife and the bit of wood he had been whittling; and we
shrank back, feeling all of a shiver, composed of equal parts of cold
and fear.

I thought the doctor would have had a fit, he was so disappointed, and
he stamped about the ice until he grew quite blue in the face.

"The last chance!" he cried--"the last chance!"

He did not know how true a prophet he was; for the next day, when we set
to and searched for another specimen of suspended animation, not one
could we find. We could not even hit upon one of the old elephants:
nothing but ice--ice--ice everywhere; and, now that the stimulus of
making strange discoveries was over, the