THE QUESTION. 
i 
349 
bound by my conclusions. Have I the moral right ? for, 
as to nautical rules, they do not fit the circumstances: 
among the whalers, when a ship is hopelessly beset, 
the master’s authority gives way, and the crew take 
counsel for themselves whether to go or stay by her. 
My party is subordinate and well disposed; but if the 
restlessness of suffering makes some of them anxious 
to brave the chances, they may certainly plead that a 
second Avinter in the ice was no part of the cruise they 
bargained for. 
“But what presses on me is of another character. I 
cannot disguise it from myself that Ave are Avretchedly 
prepared for another Avinter on board. We are a set of 
scurvy-riddled, broken-doAvn men; our provisions are 
sorely reduced in quantity, and are altogether unsuited 
to our condition. My only hope of maintaining or 
restoring such a degree of health among us as is indis¬ 
pensable to our escape in the spring has been and must 
be in a wholesome elastic tone of feeling among the 
men: a reluctant, brooding, disheartened spirit Avould 
sweep our decks like a pestilence. I fear the bane of 
depressing example. 
“I know all this as a medical man and an officer; 
and I feel that Ave might be wearing aivay the hearts 
and energies, if not the liv T es of all, by forcing those 
Avho were reluctant to remain. With half a dozen con¬ 
fiding resolute men, I have no fears of ultimate safety. 
“I Avill make a thorough inspection of the ice to- 
morroAV, and decide finally the prospects of our 
liberation. 
