"But didn't Altamont say that he had been caught among the ice, and dragged there irresistibly?"
"He said so, but I fancied there was a peculiar smile on his lips while he spoke."
"Hang it! It would be a bad job, Mr. Clawbonny, if any feeling of rivalry came between two men of their stamp."
"Heaven forfend! for it might involve the most serious consequences, Johnson."
"I hope Altamont will remember he owes his life to us?"
"But do we not owe ours to him now? I grant, without us, he would not be alive at this moment, but without him and his ship, what would become of us?"
"Well, Mr. Clawbonny, you are here to keep things straight anyhow, and that is a blessing."
"I hope I may manage it, Johnson."
The journey proceeded without any fresh incident, but on the Saturday morning the travellers found themselves in a region of quite an altered character. Instead of the wide smooth plain of ice that had hitherto stretched before them, overturned icebergs and broken hummocks covered the horizon; while the frequent blocks of fresh-water ice showed that some coast was near.
Next day, after a hearty breakfast off the bear's paws, the little party continued their route; but the road became toilsome and fatiguing. Altamont lay watching the horizon with feverish anxiety-an anxiety shared by all his companions, for, according to the last reckoning made by Hatteras, they were now exactly in latitude 83° 35" and longitude 120° 15", and the question of life or death would be decided before the day was over.