Our Flag Was There.

and ice , nor the perilous encounters with dangers in a wintry sea , almost unknown before . The reader must procure the book and read the graphic descriptions there , if he would learn the story in all its thrilling detail , as given by the chief actor in the scenes .

Early in September the little brig became firmly ice-bound in Renselaer Harbour , a deep bay on the western coast of Greenland , in latitude between seventy-eight and seventy-nine degrees . Here Dr . Kane found he could go no further in

-the brig ; and a wilderness of impenetrable icefields and ice-bergs prevented his return . In short the vessel was fast frozen in and immovable , farther north than ever white man had wintered

before , and lived . This , however , in no wise daunted or discouraged these iron men of the -ocean . They at once put their vessel in winter itrim , and prepared to spend an arctic winter in the easiest and most profitable manner possible .

If they could not travel by water , they could travel by land ; and if that became too mountainous and rocky , they could take to the ice . If they could not take their much loved brig with them , they conld go without her , for they were

¦ always sure of finding her in the same spot on -their return . They could harness a team of dogs to an Esquimaux sledge , and speed over the icy wastes , at the rate of , sometimes six miles an hour , even if the thermometer should be forty and

fifty degrees below zero . This was cold comfort , but it was all they had ! Winter , in all his stern and rugged aspect , held undisputed sway in his own dominions and on his own throne .

" The keen , clear air—the splendid sight—We waken to a world of ice ; Where all things are enshrined in light ; As by some genii ' s quaint device . ' Tis winter's jubilee—this day His stores their countless treasures yield . "

We shall not stop to enquire how the little party passed the long night of winter—for it was night for near six months , and winter all the time . And such a winter !

But spring was approaching—such springs as they have within ten or twelve degrees of the Pole . The sun had peeped up again above the horizon , as if just to see how the world looked without him , and the thermometer was only thirty

degrees below zero . In such weather the adventurous spirits that had been so long housed up in that little brig could not be idle . Like the white fcears of that region , they crawled out of their

burrows , looked old winter in the face as he began to retire , aud boasted of what they would do when the sun rose a little higher . It was March—the 19 th of March . Plans had been formed for an expedition on land and ice , in

search of Franklin ; but to furnish more facilities in the undertaking , it was necessary to establish a depot of provisions some hundred or two miles in advance , that they mig ht be able to remain out the longer , in execution of their design . To

accomplish this , a party was organised , under the command of the second officer , Bro . Brooks , to take a sledge-load of provisions and necessaries and make a depot of them in a secure place , far to the north , to be resorted to by Dr . Kane and

his companions on their contemplated long tour . This party had now been out nine clays , during which time the average of the thermometer was over twenty-seven degrees below zero . Brooks had taken the little Mason-flag , received from the

brethren of St . John ' s , Newfoundland , with him on this expedition . Why ? We cannot answer : all ve know is that it accompanied the wanderers on that winter expedition , perhaps in the character of an amulet or talisman , a kind of little household god , rather than anything else .

Brooks and his party had accomplished thenobject , and were returning to the brig , when they were overtaken by one of those wild and furious snow-storms , so common in the Arctic regions in early spring . The wind blew a perfect tempest ,

while the chiving and eddying snow filled the air and completely blinded and bewildered the halffrozen wanderers . The cold was intense , and they were out on the ice some sixty miles from the brig . They could not survive this exposure long , and part

of them were already too much exhausted to proceed farther . In this emergency they pitched their tent , into which four crowded for shelter , while the remaining three , the strongest , determined on an effort to reach the brig and procure help to

save their perishing companions . How they reached it is still unknown , for they were unable to tell themselves , but reach it they did . We will , however , let Dr . Kane tell the history of their return , and the subsequent rescue of the four left

upon the ice . We have no doubt that Dr . Kane would have perilled his life to save the humblest man of his crew—he did it more than once—but there was a Mason , perhaps more than one , perishing away out there on that Arctic ice , enveloped in that Arctic snow-storm , and his