254 THE WORLD OF ICE.

pect of an adventurous excursion and fresh meat. At
the end of the second day they buried part of their
stock of provisions at the foot of a conspicuous cliff,
intending to pick it up on their return; and thus
lightened, they advanced more rapidly, keeping farther
out on the floes, in hopes of falling in with walruses
or seals,

Their hopes, however, were doomed to disappoint-
ment. They got only one seal, and that was a small
one—scarcely sufficient to afford a couple of meals to
the dogs.

They were “ misfortunate entirely,” as O’Riley re-
marked; and to add to their misfortunes, the fioe-ice
became so rugged that they could scarcely advance
at all,

“ Things grow worse and worse,” remarked Grim, as
the sledge, for the twentieth time that day, plunged
into a crack in the ice, and had to be unloaded ere it
could be got out. “The sledge won’t stand much 0’
sich work, and if it breaks—good-bye to it, for it
won't mend without wood, and there’s none here.”

“No fear of it,” cried Bolton encouragingly ; “ it’s
made of material as tough as your own sinews, Grim,
and won't give way easily, as the thumps it has with-
stood already prove-—Has it never struck you, Fred,”
he continued, turning to our hero who was plodding
forward in silenee—“has it never struck you that
when things in this world get very bad, and we begin
to feel inclined to give up, they somehow or other
begin to get better ?”