126 THE WORLD OF ICE.

yard was edged with white, every rope and cord had
a light side and a dark, every point and truck had a
white button on it, and every hole, corner, crack, and
crevice was choked up.

The land and the sea were algo clothed with this
spotless garment, which is indeed a strikingly ap-
propriate emblem of purity, and the only dark objects
visible in the landscape were those precipices which
were too steep for the snow to lie on, the towering
form of the giant flagstaff, and the leaden clouds that
rolled angrily across the sky. But these leaden clouds
soon rolled off, leaving a blue wintry sky and a bright
sun. behind.

The storm blew itself out early in the morning, and
at breakfast-time on that day, when the sun was just
struggling with the last of the clouds, Captain Guy
remarked to his friends who were seated round the
cabin table, “ Well, gentlemen, we must begin hard
work to-day.”

“Hard work, captain!” exclaimed Fred Ellice,
pausing for a second or two in the hard work of
chewing a piece of hard salt junk ; “why, what do.
you call the work we’ve been engaged in for the last
few weeks?”

“Play, my lad; that was only play—just to bring
our hands in, before sctting to work in earnest !—
What do you think of the health of the men, doctor?”

“ Never was better; but I fear the hospital will soon
fill if you carry out your threat in regard to work.”

“No fear,” remarked the second mate; “the more