So the crew of the Forward, animated in spite of themselves, shouted,—
"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for the captain!"
"Shandon," he said to his first officer, "have the crew put in line; I want to inspect them."
Shandon obeyed, and gave the requisite orders with an agitated voice.
The captain walked in front of the officers and men, saying a word to each, and treating him according to his past conduct.
When he had finished his inspection, he went back to the quarter-deck, and calmly uttered these words:—
"Officers and sailors, I am an Englishman like you all, and my motto is that of Lord Nelson,—'England expects every man to do his duty.'
"As Englishmen, I am unwilling, we are unwilling, that others should go where we have not been. As Englishmen, I shall not endure, we shall not endure, that others should have the glory of going farther north than we. If human foot is ever to reach the Pole, it must be the foot of an Englishman! Here is the flag of our country. I have equipped this ship, I have devoted my fortune to this undertaking, I shall devote to it my life and yours, but this flag shall float over the North Pole. Fear not. You shall receive a thousand pounds sterling for every degree that we get farther north after this day. Now we are at the seventy-second,[*] and there are ninety in all. Figure it out. My name will be proof enough. It means energy and patriotism. I am Captain Hatteras."
"Captain Hatteras!" cried Shandon. And this name, familiar to them all, soon spread among all the crew.