"O, don't be anxious, Captain!" answered Johnson; "there will be enough left for you; the cold keeps everything wonderfully, and we shall find everything as fresh and in as good condition as on the first day."
"I'm not so anxious about the provisions," answered Hatteras; "I have enough for several years; what I stand in need of is coal."
"Well, Captain, we left more than a thousand tons there; so you can feel easy about that."
"Let us stand nearer," resumed Hatteras, who, glass in hand, kept examining the shore.
"You see that point," said Johnson; "when we've doubled it, we shall be near our anchorage. Yes, it's from there we started for England with Lieutenant Creswell and twelve sick men of the Investigator. But if we were fortunate enough to be of service to Captain MacClure's lieutenant, Bellot, the officer who accompanied us on the Phoenix, never saw his home again! Ah, that's a sad memory! But, Captain, I think it's here we ought to anchor."
"Very well," answered Hatteras.
And he gave the proper orders. The Forward lay in a little harbor sheltered from the north, east, and south winds, about a cable-length from the shore.
"Mr. Wall," said Hatteras, "you will lower the launch and send six men to bring coal aboard."
"Yes, sir," answered Wall.
"I am going ashore in the gig with the doctor and the boatswain; Mr. Shandon, will you go with us?"