THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 15 



A party of four Eskimos, consisting of a father and his two 

 daughters and a youth, who were being taken back to their 

 homes after assisting in the spectacular effects of a lecture 

 tour, came in for a great share of attention, and submit- 

 ted patiently to unceasing cross-examinations, for they 

 had learned to speak English fluently, perhaps to their 

 regret. 



At length the signal was given for all to go on shore who 

 were not going with the expedition, and the pause that came 

 before the actual start gave a stout man on the wharf an op- 

 portunity to let off a few mild jokes at our expense. He per- 

 sisted in looking upon the expedition from a humorous stand- 

 point, and was aided and abetted in his point of view by a 

 Fourth of July jag which had not yet entirely deserted him. 

 " What in the name of Hades do you want to go to the North 

 Pole for anyway," he shouted, " when ice is only two dollars 

 a ton in New York?" Little did he know how dearly ice 

 would cost us off the coast of Labrador later on. But when 

 the start was actually made, and the Miranda, instead of 

 backing out, as was intended, headed directly for the dock, 

 hitting against two or three smaller craft on her way, his de- 

 light knew no bounds. " Are you going to hunt polar bear 

 in Wall Street ?" he shouted in high glee. Something un- 

 looked for had happened. The signal wires going into the 

 engineer's room, which had just been renewed, had been un- 

 accountably crossed, and the engineer had thus received the 

 reverse signal from the one intended. However, after threat- 

 ening to entirely demolish some smaller craft, and after a great 

 deal of bellowing and shouting, and not a little swearing, 

 matters were rectified, and the Miranda backed out, swung, 

 and started on her career, amid cheers and wavings and con- 

 fused shoutings of farewell from the shore. 



We steamed through Long Island Sound, and outside 

 of Nantucket. The usual course is through Vineyard Sound, 



