"Only give me the order," resumed Brunton, "and my fires shall be lighted."
"Well," remarked Clifton, "we shall light them ourselves."
"If any officer," said Pen, "is anxious to spend the winter here, he can; we can leave him here contentedly; he'll find it easy to build a hut like the Esquimaux."
"Not at all, Pen," retorted Brunton, quickly; "we sha'n't abandon any one here; do you understand that, all of you? I think it won't be hard to persuade the commander; he seems to me to be very much discouraged, and if we propose it to him gently—"
"But," interrupted Plover, "Richard Shandon is often very obstinate; we shall have to sound him cautiously."
"When I think," said Bolton, with a sigh of longing, "that in a month we might be back in Liverpool! We can easily pass the line of ice at the south! Davis Strait will be open by the beginning of June, and then we shall have nothing but the free Atlantic before us."
"Besides," said the cautious Clifton, "if we take the commander back with us, and act under his commands, we shall have earned our pay; but if we go back without him, it's not so sure."
"True," said Plover; "Clifton talks sense. Let's try not to get into any trouble with the Admiralty, that's safer, and don't let us leave any one behind."
"But if they refuse to come with us?" continued Pen, who wished to compel his companions to stand by him.
They found it hard to answer the question thus squarely put them.