292 THE WORLD OF ICE.

caution. They knew that the lost men must be
within twenty miles of them, but they had no means
of knowing the exact spot, and any footprints that
had been made were now obliterated. In these cir-
cumstances Captain Guy had to depend very much on
his own sagacity.

Clambering to the top of a hummock, he observed
a long stretch of level floe to the northward.

“T think it likely,” he remarked to Saunders, who
had accompanied him, “that they may have gone in
that direction. It seems an attractive road among
this chaos of ice-heaps.”

“T’m no sure o’ that,” objected Saunders ; “ yonder’s
a pretty clear road away to the west, maybe they took
that.”

“ Perhaps they did, but as Fred said they had gone
far out on the ice to the north, I think it likely they’ve
gone in that direction.”

“Maybe ye’re right, sir, and maybe ye’re wrang,”
answered Saunders, as they returned to the party.
As this was the second mate’s method of intimating
that he felt that he ought to give in (though he didn’t
give in, and never would give in absolutely), the
captain felt more confidence in his own opinion.

“Now, Meetuck, keep your eyes open,” he added,
as they resumed their rapid march.

After journeying on for a considerable distance, the
men were ordered to spread out over the neighbour-
ing ice-fields, in order to multiply the chances of dis-
covering tracks; but there seemed to be some irresist-