Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/138

 was changed to the home day, which begins at mid-*night; and, conscious that we had reached the dividing line between the summer sunlight and the winter darkness, we settled ourselves for the struggle which was to come, resolved to get through it with the cheerfulness becoming resolute men, and to make ourselves as comfortable as possible. And the personal characteristics of my associates augured well for the future. While there was sufficient variety of disposition to insure a continuance of some novelty in our social intercourse, there was enough esprit to satisfy me as to the continuance of harmony in the performance of individual duty.

The sun sank out of sight behind the southern hills on the 15th of October, not to be seen again for four long months. The circumstance furnished the subject of our conversation in the evening, and I could easily read on the faces of my companions that their thoughts followed him as he wandered south; and a shade of sadness fell for a moment over the table about which we were grouped. We had all been so intent upon our cares and duties, during the past five weeks, that we had scarcely noticed the decline of day. It had vanished slowly and as if by stealth; and the gloom of night following its lengthening shadow made us feel now, for the first time, how truly alone we were in the Arctic desert.