CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

ARRIVAL IN POLOELAND.

Fortune, which had hitherto proved favourable to our brave explorers, did not desert them at the eleventh hour.

Soon after their arrival at Refuge Island a fair wind sprang up from the south, and when the _Charity_ had been carefully patched and repaired, the kites were sent up and the voyage was continued. That day and night they spent again upon the boundless sea, for the island was soon left out of sight behind them, though the wind was not very fresh.

Towards morning it fell calm altogether, obliging them to haul down the kites and take to the oars.

"It can't be far off now, Chingatok," said the Captain, who became rather impatient as the end drew near.

"Not far," was the brief reply.

"Land ho!" shouted Benjy, about half-an-hour after that.

But Benjy was forced to admit that anxiety had caused him to take an iceberg on the horizon for land.

"Well, anyhow you must admit," said Benjy, on approaching the berg, "that it's big enough for a fellow to mistake it for a mountain. I wonder what it's doing here without any brothers or sisters to keep it company."

"Under-currents brought it here, lad," said the Captain. "You see, such a monster as that must go very deep down, and the warm under-current has not yet melted away enough of his base to permit the surface-current to carry him south like the smaller members of his family. He is still travelling north, but that won't last long. He'll soon become small enough to put about and go the other way. I never saw a bigger fellow than that, Benjy. Hayes, the American, mentions one which he measured, about 315 feet high, and nearly a mile long. It had been grounded for two years. He calculated that there must have been seven times as much of it below water as there was above, so that it was stranded in nearly half-a-mile depth of water. This berg cannot be far short of that one in size."

What are the answers to this following set of questions:

1. What did Benjy mistake for land?
2. What caused that?
3. What did Benjy say it was as big as to mistake it for?
4. What did the Captain say brought it there?
5. Did he call it a monster?
6. What direction was the iceberg traveling?
7. Would that be for a long or short time?
8. What nationality was Hayes?
9. Did the Captain say he ever seen an iceberg larger than the one they saw?
10. How large was the one Hayes saw?
11. What did not abandon them at the eleventh hour?
12. What island did they arrive at?
13. Did something spring up?
14. What?
15. From what direction?
16. What was it like in the morning?
17. What did they pull down?
18. And take to what?
19. Had the Charity undergone repairs?
20. Did the trip go on after that?

Numbered answers:
1. an iceberg
2. anxiety
3. a mountain
4. Under-currents
5. yes
6. north
7. short
8. American
9. no
10. about 315 feet high, and nearly a mile long.
11. Fortune
12. Refuge
13. yes
14. a fair wind
15. south
16. it fell calm
17. the kites
18. oars
19. yes
20. yes