“Perhaps. I have been there when we could load our boat in a very little while, and I have been there when all through the season we have hardly seen a walrus.”
“Oh, but if there are none at Spitzbergen, and we don’t find the Ice Blink, we must go somewhere else.”
“If,” said the Norseman, smiling. “If? If what?”
“If we can. The ice may stop us.”
“What, for a day or two?”
“For a season or two seasons. One can never tell, sir. The ice is king up here, and has its own way.”
“Yes, but kings are conquered sometimes,” said Steve merrily; “perhaps we shall master, find the Ice Blink, and go right up to the North Pole, where the open Polar Sea lies.”
“No open Polar Sea lies up there, young gentleman,” said Johannes gravely; and as he spoke he gazed northward with a curious far-off look in his eyes. “I have heard all of that before, but after you pass the southern edge of the floe it is all ice, ice right away. I know there is land here and there, for one year, eastward of Spitzbergen, we came upon a rocky piece of coast; but whether it was an island or a great country running for hundreds of miles, no one yet knows.”
“Well, but how grand to land there and find out,” said Steve eagerly. “I should like that. Would Captain Marsham sail there?” Johannes smiled.
“It does not depend on Captain Marsham,” he replied. “Look,” he said, pointing northward, “there is the edge of the floe. Suppose you knew that there was land two hundred miles northward, how would you sail there?”