Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 2.djvu/379

 "Are you hurt?" asked Hatteras.

"Never a bit! there is no fear of me," he replied, shaking the snow off his good-tempered face.

"But how did it happen?"

"Oh! it is all owing to refraction—always that stupid refraction," he said, laughing. "I thought I was going to jump over a gap not more than a foot broad, and I found myself in a hole ten feet deep. Take a lesson from me, and don't venture a step till you have tried the ground with your staff. There is no trusting to one's senses in this region, for both ears and eyes deceive one."

"Can we go on?" said Hatteras.

"Oh, go on, by all means. This little tumble will do me more good than harm."

Once more they set off, and by the time they halted for the night had gone a distance of five-and-twenty miles.

While the hut was being constructed for their night quarters, nothing would serve the Doctor but he must climb to the top of an iceberg and look about him.

The moon was almost full, and shining in the clear sky with extraordinary brilliancy. The stars, too, were wondrously beautiful, and as he gazed over the plain below, the surpassing grandeur of the spectacle amply repaid for the fatigue of the ascent. It resembled some vast cemetery full of monuments of every description, in which twenty generations lay slumbering; and in spite of cold and weariness, the Doctor could not tear himself from the scene. He was so absorbed and entranced that his companions could scarcely persuade him to come down. But the hut was ready, and it was high time to think of sleep, so he crept in after the others, and was soon in the arms of Morpheus.

The next few days passed without any particular incidents, sometimes making quicker and sometimes slower progress, till they reached the 15th of January.

The moon was now in her last quarter, and only visible for a short time. The sun, though never appearing above the horizon, made a sort of dim twilight for about six hours in the day. But it was too faint to show the road, and the travelers had to steer the way by the compass. Bell went first, and set up a landmark for the rest to follow, so as to keep in a straight course as far as possible.

On the 15th of February, which was on a Sunday, Hat-