Part 3 (1/2)
”Can you, Lowe?” asked the captain of the 's sleep
”No, sir It's all chance work, this sailing to the north We o here or there; we o where the ice will let us”
”Exactly; and take alrus and seal we can on the way Have you ever touched at Jan Mayen?”
”No, and never could get near enough to the island for fog and ice”
”But you've heard a good deal about the place?”
”Yes; I've heard that it's a land of high mountains, and that there's a volcano at one end Let's see, there's a kind of seal there, too, that is very abundant; but the place is rarely touched at, being faation”
”Well, ill see if we cannot have better luck, and try to get there in fine weather,” said Captain Marsham ”What do you say, doctor?”
”That it will be a treat to land there Besides, we may find our friends”
The doctor walked forward, and Steve folloith the idea of landing upon an unexplored coast growing in its fascination; and as the naturalist leaned over the bows to peer down into the clear water, the lad edged up alongside
”Hullo, Steve! what are you thinking about?” saluted him
”Volcanoes”
”War why it was that these burningthe ice and snow”
”But are they?”
”Oh yes,” said Steve confidently ”There's Hecla in Iceland, and this one Mr Lowe talked about, and Captain Marshast the ice toward the South Pole”
”Indeed!” said the doctor sarcastically ”That makes three What about the scores of others dotted about the earth in the hottest countries?
Your theory will not hold water,aloft for? We can't be anywhere near land”
This re the shrouds of thehis way to the top, and then, as they watched hiallant crosstrees, where he stopped for so
”Gone up to see if the ropes are safe,” said Steve at last But this soon proved to be a very lame conclusion, for the other three Norse Scotchman, with a little brownup out of the hold
The soht, and narrohile it wasanother six inches above the open top, and held projecting like a rail by means of stout bars attached to a hoop
It is a bad plan on shi+pboard to ask questions of officers when they are busy, and Steve had been to sea long enough to learn this On the other hand, it is a good thing, not only at sea, but through life, to investigate as much as possible for yourself, and correct any errors into which you fall as you learn ht wit,” the old ht us are too often forgotten, while those which we have bought at the cost of a good deal of puzzling and study fix themselves fir on the deck, and he could conveniently do so, Steve walked up and began to exa principally that about half-way down there was a broad ledge half round the inside
”To brew so, I suppose,” said Steve to himself ”They'll lay the yeast, or whatever it is they use, on that ledge Soet up into the ice”
He had another good look round after thrusting his head inside the iron rail, upon which a board was placed to slide, and then noted so else which quite upset his theory