at signs and portents. Among the earliest things she remembered was
a story which had been told her of her grandmother's brother, who
was the thirteenth passenger in an omnibus when he was a young man,
and who died that very night, having slipped off the back step,
where he was obliged to stand, and fractured his skull.

At last there came a day when a message in cipher from Roland
Clewe delivered itself on board the Dipsey, and from that moment
a hitherto unknown sense of security seemed to pervade the minds
of officers and crew. To be sure, there was no good reason for
this, for if disaster should overtake them, or even threaten
them, there was no submarine boat ready to send to their rescue;
and if there had been, it would be long, long before such aid
could reach them; but still, they were comforted, encouraged, and
cheered. Now, if anything happened, they could send news of it
to the man in whom they all trusted, and through him to their
homes, and whatever their far-away friends had to say to them
could be said without reserve.

There was nothing yet of definite scientific importance to report,
but the messages of the Master Electrician were frequent and long,
regardless of expense, and, so far as her husband would permit her,
Sarah Block informed Mrs. Raleigh of the discouragements and
dangers which awaited this expedition. It must be said, however,
that Mrs. Block never proposed to send back one word which should
indicate that she was in favor of the abandonment of the
expedition, or of her retirement from it should opportunity allow.
She had set out for the north pole because Sammy was going there,
and the longer she went "polin'" with him, the stronger became her
curiosity to see the pole and to know what it looked like.