Thursday, and if the passage is not open by Sunday morning we turn round and go south"
"That's a sensible speech," said Clifton.
"Do you go in for that?" inquired Pen.
"Yes," was the unanimous reply.
"And it is only just," said Warren; "for if we are obliged to work in this fashion, and tow the ship along by main force, my opinion is that our labor would be better spent in dragging it back."
"We shall see that on Sunday," said Wolsten.
"Let me get orders," said Brunton, "and I'll soon light the furnaces."
"As for that," returned Clifton, "we can light them ourselves."
"If any one of the officers," continued Pen, "has a fancy to winter here, he is quite at liberty. He'll find no difficulty in making a snow-hut for himself, where he can live like a regular Esquimaux."
"That's out of the question, Pen," said Brunton, "we cannot leave anyone behind; and, what's more, I don't think the chief officer will be difficult to persuade. He seems very uneasy now, and if we propose the thing quietly to him———"
"That remains to be seen," said Plover. "Richard Shandon can be a hard, obstinate man when he likes; we must feel our way carefully."
"Only to think," said Bolton, eagerly, "that in a month's time we might be back in Liverpool. We shall easily get over the ice-belt down south. Davis's Straits will be open at the beginning of June, and we have only to get right out into the Atlantic."
"We have this to take into account besides," said the prudent Clifton, "that, in getting Shandon to come back with us, we act on his responsibility, and our shares and bounty money are sure; whereas, if we return alone, it is at least doubtful if we get them."
"But suppose the officers will not go back?" resumed Pen, bent on pushing the question to the extreme.
There was no reply for a moment, and then Bolton said: "We shall see when the time comes; all we have to do now is to win over Richard Shandon to our side, and I don't think that will be difficult."
