"Yes, the north wind especially; it is so strong as to drive us out of our course."
"Well, but if it does that it surely ought to drive the ice south, and clear the way."
"It ought, but the wind doesn't always do what it ought. Look at that ice-field ahead; it looks perfectly impenetrable, and yet we must try to find some opening, for get to Beechey Isle I must at any rate, to replenish our stock of coal."
"Can you get coal there?" asked the Doctor, in astonishment.
"Most certainly. By order of the Admiralty, great stores were deposited there for the benefit of future expeditions; and though McClintock may have availed himself of them in 1859, there will be some left for us, I assure you."
"The Admiralty always kept five or six ships out here, I believe, till it was proved beyond a doubt that the whole of Franklin's ill-fated expedition had perished."
"Yes, they did. For fifteen years these regions were being explored, and one good result has followed anyway—that is our knowledge of the Polar Seas has greatly increased."
"It could hardly be otherwise, seeing the number of expeditions since 1848, when the first alarm was raised about the missing ships. Since McClintock returned in the Fox, however, not another vessel has ventured to try her fortune in those dangerous seas."
"Well, we'll try ours," said Hatteras, "come what may."
CHAPTER XIV
THE FORWARD DRIVEN SOUTH
The weather cleared towards evening, and the shore became visible between Cape Sepping and Cape Clarence. The sea was open towards Regent Inlet, but as if the Fates had conspired against the Forward's progress north, there was still an impassable barrier of ice, which shut them out from Port Leopold.
Hatteras, who was extremely annoyed, though he did not show it outwardly in the least degree, had to fall back on his powder again to force an entrance, but he succeeded in getting in by mid-day on Sunday, the 27th of May, and
