“Give him a long shot—­quick!” cried Singleton.

Fred fired instantly; and the bear stopped, and looked round, as much as to say, “Did you speak, gentlemen?” Then, not receiving a reply, he walked away with dignified indifference, and disappeared among the ice-hummocks.

An hour afterwards the two wanderers were seated at a comfortable breakfast in the cabin of the Dolphin, relating their adventures to the captain and mates, and, although unwittingly, to Mivins, who generally managed so to place himself, while engaged in the mysterious operations of his little pantry, that most of the cabin talk reached his ear, and travelled thence through his mouth to the forecastle.  The captain was fully aware of this fact, but he winked at it, for there was nothing but friendly feeling on board the ship, and no secrets.  When, however, matters of serious import had to be discussed, the cabin door was closed, and Mivins turned to expend himself on Davie Summers, who, in the capacity of a listener, was absolutely necessary to the comfortable existence of the worthy steward.

Having exhausted their appetites and their information, Fred and Tom were told that, during their absence, a bear and two seals had been shot by Meetuck, the Esquimau interpreter, whom they had taken on board at Upernavik; and they were further informed that the ice was in motion to the westward, and that there was every probability of their being released by the falling tide.  Having duly and silently weighed these facts for a few minutes, they simultaneously, and as if by a common impulse, yawned, and retired to bed.

CHAPTER IX.

The “Dolphin” gets beset in the ice—­Preparations for wintering in the ice—­Captain Guy’s code of laws.

An accident now befell the Dolphin which effectually decided the fate of the ship and her crew, at least for that winter.  This was her getting aground near the ravine of the giant flagstaff before mentioned, and being finally beset by ice, from which all efforts on the part of the men to extricate her proved abortive, and in which she was ultimately frozen in, hard and fast.

The first sight the crew obtained of the red snow filled them with unbounded amazement, and a few of the more superstitious amongst them with awe approaching to fear.  But soon their attention was attracted from this by the wonderful column.

“Och, then! may I niver!” exclaimed O’Riley, the moment he caught sight of it, “if there ben’t the north pole at long last—­sure enough!”

The laugh that greeted this remark was almost immediately checked, partly from the feelings of solemnity inspired by the magnificent view which opened up to them, and partly from a suspicion on the part of the more ignorant among the men that there might be some truth in O’Riley’s statement after all.