then rise to the surface of the water in this opening, and the
necessary operations will be carried on."

"Mr. Clewe," said Margaret Raleigh, "the thing is so terrible I
cannot bear to think of it. The Dipsey may have to sail hundreds
and hundreds of miles under the ice, shut in as if an awful lid
were put over her. No matter what happened down there, she could
not come up and get out; it would be the same thing as having a
vast sky of ice stretched out above one. I should think the very
idea of it would make people shudder and die."

"Oh, it is not so bad as all that," answered Clewe. "There is
nothing so dear to the marine explorer as plenty of water, and
plenty of room to sail in, and under the ice the Dipsey will find
all that."

"But there are so many dangers," said she, "that you cannot
provide against in advance."

"That is very true," said he, "but I have thought so much about
them, and I have studied and consulted so much about them, that I
think I have provided against all the dangers we have reason to
expect. To me the whole business seems like very plain,
straightforward sailing."

"It may seem so here," said Margaret Raleigh, "but it will be
quite another thing out under the arctic ice."

Preparations for the expedition were pushed forward as rapidly as
possible, and Clewe would have been delighted to make this voyage