"There's something superior to duty, Captain," answered his first officer, "and that is the right of self-preservation. I repeat it, we have no fire; and if this goes on, in two days not one of us will be alive."
"I have no wood," answered Hatteras, gloomily.
"Well," shouted Pen, violently, "when the wood gives out, we must go cut it where it grows!"
Hatteras grew pale with anger.
"Where is that?" he asked.
"On board," answered the sailor, insolently.
"On board!" repeated the captain, with clinched fists and sparkling eyes.
"Of course," answered Pen, "when the ship can't carry the crew, the ship ought to be burned."
At the beginning of this sentence Hatteras had grasped an axe; at its end, this axe was raised above Pen's head.