84 THE SEA. 



erected fronting the neutral ground, and he mounted the cart as firmly as he had walked, 

 holding up his face to heaven in the beating rain, apparently calm and resigned. Finding 

 the halter too high for his neck, he boldly stepped upon his coffin and placed his head in 

 the noose, bidding adieu to all around him. Thus died Benito de Soto, the pirate of the 

 nineteenth century, whose crimes had hardly been exceeded by the freebooters of any 

 previous period. 



CHAPTER IX. 



OUR ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. 



The Latest Arctic Expedition Scene at Portsmouth Departure of the Alert and Discovery Few Expeditions really ever 

 pointed to the Pole What we know of the Regions Admitted and unadmitted Records Dutch Yarns A Claimant 

 at the Pole Life with the Esquimaux A Solitary Journey Northmen Colony The Adventurer kindly treated 

 Their King Sun-worshippers Believers in an Arctic Hell The Mastodon not extinct Domesticated Walruses 

 The whole story a nonsensical Canard. 



Ox the afternoon of May 29th, 1875, the old town of Portsmouth presented in an unusual 

 degree that gala aspect which it can so readily assume at short notice. It is true that 

 it was the official anniversary of Her Majesty's birthday, and a military review had been 

 announced ; but granting full credit to the loyalty of Hants, there was still something to 

 be explained, for visitors had crowded into the town by tens and tens of thousands, and 

 the jetties, piers, and shores presented the aspect of a popular holiday, so lined were they 

 with well-dressed and evidently expectant masses of people. The shipping in the harbour 

 and out to Spithead displayed the flags of the whole signalling code, while from the flag- 

 posts of every public, and hundreds of private, buildings, the coastguard stations, forts, 

 and piers, depended a perfect wealth of bunting. What was the cause of this enthusiasm ? 



In the dockyard a quieter scene explained the reason. Two vessels, of no great size, 

 and which at any other time would not have attracted special attention, were lying, with 

 full steam up and bows pointed to the stream, ready for immediate departure. They bore 

 the names of the Alert and Discovery, and were about to start on a prolonged Arctic 

 voyage. On the jetty the relatives and friends of some 120 officers and blue-jackets 

 were assembled to bid the last farewell, the last God-speed to men about to encounter 

 many known and unknown dangers in a field of action where peril is the daily concomitant 

 of existence. We can well believe that the fate of Franklin and his gallant band in 

 numbers almost literally identical with the two ships' companies about to depart would 

 recur to the minds of some, and that many a mother prayed that night, and later 



' ' Heaven, my child in mercy spare ! 

 God, where'er he be ; 

 O God, my God, in pity spare 

 My boy to-night at sea ! " 



We shall not attempt to depict a scene familiar to all who have voyaged or who 

 know much of seaport life, although this was a special case. 



