"A bear!" he said to himself.
In fact, it was a huge bear; lost in the fog, it came and went with great danger to the men, whose presence it certainly did not suspect.
"Matters are growing complicated!" thought the doctor, standing still.
Sometimes he felt the animal's breath, which was soon lost in the frost-rime; again he would see the monster's huge paws beating the air so near him that his clothes were occasionally torn by its sharp claws; he jumped back, and the animal disappeared like a phantasmagoric spectre.
But as he sprang back he found an elevation beneath his feet; he climbed up first one block of ice, then another, feeling his way with his staff.
"An iceberg!" he said to himself; "if I can get to the top I am safe."
With these words he climbed up an elevation of about ninety feet with surprising agility; he arose above the frozen mist, the top of which was sharply defined.
"Good!" he said to himself; and looking about him he saw his three companions emerging from the vapor.
"Hatteras!"