THE WHITE WORLD 



" How well this crowd seems to get along," remarked 

 a man opposite me at the breakfast table, " in spite of the 

 fact that before leaving New York scarcely one man in 

 the crowd knew another." 



" Well," said an Englishman upon my right, with the 

 slow deliberation of his race and the air of a man who 

 had given the subject careful con- 

 sideration, " well, but we are a very 

 superior crowd, you know." 



There was no dissent from this 

 J|fc^^ opinion. 



H^. Late in the afternoon of July n, 



we steamed into the beautiful har- 

 bor of Sydney, Cape Breton Island, 

 one of the finest in the world. Here 

 we remained long enough to take in 

 the town and its surroundings, as 

 well as a supply of coal and pro- 

 visions. The inhabitants of Sydney 

 appeared to have no faith in an iron 

 ship as an Arctic navigator. They 

 declared it would be smashed by the 

 ice. One ancient oracle, a prophet 

 of wind and ice, was appealed to 

 for his opinion. He shook his head, gave a significant 

 look, and said solemnly that he did not like to express his 

 opinion in our presence. Had he doomed us to certain 

 death, he could not have thrown a deeper gloom over the 

 assembled company 



At St. John's, Newfoundland, our next stopping place, 

 we once more gave occasion for dire prophetic utter- 

 ances. It was therefore a considerable relief when Dr. 

 Cook returned from a pilgrimage to the shore, bringing 

 with him a veteran ice pilot who had been with Peary, and 

 who was regarded as an authority upon Arctic navigation. 

 His services were secured for the trip, and he proved to be 

 a sort of Bunsby who so won the confidence of Captain 

 Cuttle. His oracular manner and the significant nods 

 that accompanied his Delphic utterances seemed to cheer 

 the drooping spirits of those who had harkened to too 

 many forebodings, and so in high feather and with large 

 hopes, we steamed out of the harbor into the open sea. 

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