126 LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. [VIII. 



Ten minutes more, and we were the only denizens of 

 that misty sea. I confess I felt excessively sorry to have 

 lost the society of such joyous companions ; they had 

 received us always with such merry good nature : the 

 Prince had shown himself so gracious and considerate, 

 and he was surrounded by a staff of such clever, well- 

 informed persons, that it was with the deepest regret I 

 watched the fog close round the magnificent corvette, 

 and bury her — and all whom she contained — within its 

 bosom. Our own situation, too, was not altogether with- 

 out causing me a little anxiety. We had not seen the 

 sun for two days ; it was very thick, with a heavy sea, and 

 dodging about as we had been among the ice, at the 

 heels of the steamer, our dead reckoning was not very 

 much to be depended upon. The best plan I thought 

 would be to stretch away at once clear of the ice, then 

 run up into the latitude of Jan Mayen, and — as soon as 

 we should have reached the parallel of its northern 

 extremity — bear down on the land. If there was any 

 access at all to the island, it was very evident it would be 

 on its northern or eastern side ; and now that we were 

 alone, to keep on knocking up through a hundred miles or 

 so of ice in a thick fog, in our fragile schooner, would 

 have been out of the question. 



The ship's course, therefore, having been shaped in 

 accordance with this view, I stole back into bed and 

 resumed my violated slumbers. Towards mid-day the 

 weather began to moderate, and by four o'clock we were 

 skimming along on a smooth sea, with all sails set. This 

 state of prosperity continued for the next twenty-four 

 hours ; we had made about eighty knots since parting 

 company with the Frenchman, and it was now time to 



Hortense " found herself short of coals ; and as the encumbered state of 

 the sea rendered it already very unlikely that any access would be found 

 open to the island, M. de la Ronciere very properly judged it advisable 

 to turn back. He re-entered the Reykjavik harbour without so much 

 as a shovelful of coals left on board. 



