"Wasn't I right in considering this pretended discovery as a mere hypothesis? No one agreed with me, and you too, Wall,—you sided against me."
"They'll believe you next time, Shandon."
"Yes," he answered, "when it's too late."
And he returned to his cabin, where he had kept himself almost exclusively since his discussion with the captain.
Towards evening the wind shifted to the south. Hatteras then set his sails and had the fires put out; for many days the crew were kept hard at work; every few minutes they had to tack or bear away, or to shorten sail quickly to stop the course of the brig; the braces could not run easily through the choked-up pulleys, and added to the fatigue of the crew; more than a week was required for them to reach Point Barrow. The Forward had not made thirty miles in ten days.
Then the wind flew around to the north, and the engine was started once more. Hatteras still hoped to find an open sea beyond latitude 77°, such as Edward Belcher had seen.
And yet, if he believed in Penny's account, the part of the sea which he was now crossing ought to have been open; for Penny, having reached the limit of the ice, saw in a canoe the shores of Queen's Channel at latitude 77°.
Must he regard their reports as apochryphal, or had an unusually early winter fallen upon these regions?
August 15th, Mount Percy reared into the mist its peaks covered with eternal snow; a violent wind was hurling in their teeth a fierce shower of hail. The next day the sun set for the first time, terminating at last the long series of days twenty-four hours long. The men had finally accustomed themselves to this perpetual daylight; but the animals minded it very little; the Greenland dogs used to go to sleep at the usual hour, and even Duke lay down at the same hour every evening, as if the night were dark.
Still, during the nights following August 16th the darkness was never very marked; the sun, although it had set, still gave light enough by refraction.