seemed waiting their guns, and the whole bay presented an animated appearance.
The thaw, meanwhile, was making rapid progress. The thermometer stood steadily at 32° above zero, and the water ran round the mountain-sides in cataracts, and dashed in torrents through the ravines.
The Doctor lost no time in clearing about an acre of ground, in which he sowed the seeds of anti-scorbutic plants. He just had the pleasure of seeing tiny little green leaves begin to sprout, when the cold returned in full force.
In a single night the thermometer lost nearly 40°; it went down to 8° below zero. Everything was frozen; birds, quadrupeds, amphibia disappeared as if by magic; seal-holes re-closed, and the ice once more became hard as granite.
The change was most striking; it occurred on the 18th of May, during the night. The Doctor was rather disappointed at having all his work to do again, but Hatteras bore the grievance most unphilosophically, as it interfered with all his plans of speedy departure.
"Do you think we shall have a long spell of this weather, Mr. Clawbonny?" asked Johnson.
"No, my friend, I don't; it is a last blow from the cold. You see these are his dominions, and he won't be driven out without making some resistance."
" He can defend himself pretty well," said Bell, rubbing his face.
"Yes; but I ought to have waited, and not have wasted my seed like an ignoramus; and all the more as I could, if necessary, have made them sprout by the kitchen stoves."
"But do you mean to say," asked Altamont, "that you might have anticipated the sudden change."
"Of course, and without being a wizard. I ought to have put my seed under the protection of Saint Paucratius and the two other saints, whose fete days fall this month."
"Absurd! Pray tell me what have they to do with it? What influence can they possibly have on the temperature?"
"An immense one, if we are to believe horticulturists, who call them the patron saints of the frost."
"And for what reason?"
"Because generally there is a periodical frost in the month of May, and it is coldest from the 11th to the 13th. That is the fact?"
