"Who can tell?" remarked Pen. "John Hatteras is free to go as far as he chooses, but no one is obliged to follow him."
"Just remember," resumed Gripper, "his first voyage to Baffin's Bay and what came of it!"
"And the voyage of the Farewell," said Clifton, "which was lost in the Spitzenberg seas under his command."
"And from which he came back alone," added Gripper.
"Alone, but with his dog," said Clifton.
"We don't care to sacrifice ourselves for the whims of that man," continued Pen.
"Nor to lose all the wages we've earned so hard."
They all recognized Clifton by those words.
"When we pass latitude 78°," he added, "and we are not far from it, that will make just three hundred and seventy-five pounds for each man, six times eight degrees."
"But," asked Gripper, "sha'n't we lose them if we go back without the captain?"