distance ahead. Impelled and guided by the batteries of the
larger vessel, this little thermometer-boat would send back
instant tidings of any changes in temperature in the water
occasioned by the proximity of ice. To prevent sinking too deep,
a heavy lead, on which were several electric buttons, hung far
below the Dipsey, ready at all times, day or night, to give
notice if she came too near the reefs and sands of the bottom of
the Arctic Ocean.

The steward had just announced that the first meal on board the
Dipsey was ready for the officers' mess, when Mrs. Block suddenly
rushed into the cabin.

"Look here, Sammy," she exclaimed; "I want you, or somebody who
knows more than you do, to tell me how the people on this vessel
are goin' to get air to breathe with. It has just struck me that
when we have breathed up all the air that's inside, we will
simply suffocate, just as if we were drowned outside a boat
instead of inside; and for my part I can't see any difference,
except in one case we keep dry and in the other we are wet."

"More than that, madam," said Mr. Gibbs, the Master Electrician,
who, in fact, occupied the rank of first officer of the vessel;
"if we are drowned outside in the open water we shall be food for
fishes, whereas if we suffocate inside the vessel we shall only
be food for reflection, if anybody ever finds us."

"You did not come out expectin' that, I hope?" said Mrs. Block.
"I thought something would happen when we started, but I never
supposed we would run short of air."