Mr. Gibbs was very pale.

"My friends," said he, "we are going on deck to find out whether
or not we have reached the open polar sea, but we must not be
excited, and we must not jump to hurried conclusions; we may have
found what we are in search of, and we may not have found it yet.
But we will go up and look out upon the polar world as far as we
can see it, and we shall not decide upon this thing or that until
we have thoroughly studied the whole situation. The engines are
stopped, and every one may go up, but I advise you all to put on
your warmest clothes. We should remember our experience at Lake
Shiver."

"It wouldn't be a bad idea," said Sammy Block, "to throw out a
lot of tarpaulins to stand on, so that none of us will get frozen
to the wet deck, as happened before."

When the hatch was opened a man with a black beard pushed himself
forward towards the companionway.

"Keep back here, sir," said Mr. Marcy, clapping his hand upon the
man's shoulder.

"I want to be ready to spread the tarpaulins, sir," said he, with
a wriggling motion, as if he would free himself.

"You want to be the first to see the polar sea, that is my
opinion," said Mr. Marcy; "but you keep back there where you
belong." And with that he gave the eager Rovinski a staggering