"No, not as much wind as would have sufficed to lift a snowflake, never a cloud in the sky, and the sun going round and round and round, but far above the horizon even at midnight. We tired of reading books; we tired of card-playing and games on the ice; we even tired of music itself. Monotony generated _ennui_; _ennui_ bred melancholy; plenty of exercise on the ice alone could save us from succumbing to actual illness. We knew that well, but we were thoroughly apathetic, and did not care to take it. The captain, a young and energetic man, at last hit upon a happy expedient which succeeded most completely in restoring something of life and animation to the crew, who were rapidly merging into a state of Rip Van Winkleism, painful to behold. He determined to form a camp three miles away from the ship. Simply walking to and from it would be some little excitement, it would be exercise with a purpose, and exercise, as medical men will tell you, without pleasure or purpose, is entirely useless in a hygienic point of view. "Our captain, the first and second mates, and myself were seated at breakfast one morning when he made his proposal. "`Doctor,' he said--NB, he called me `Doctor' always, but at that time I had no more business with the title than the tailor had-- "`Doctor, how are the men getting on forward?' "`They haven't much life in them,' I replied; `they are all making silver rings now out of sixpenny bits and shillings. That is the latest fad, but the coins will soon be all used up; then I suppose all hands will go to sleep for a month or two.' "`I think, doctor,' said Captain Peters, `that their livers want stirring up. Eh? Don't you, doctor?' "`Well,' I replied, `anything for a quiet life. There is plenty of blue pill and black draught on board. I'll stir their livers up. Pass the ham.' "`All right, then,' said the captain; `you stir their livers up, and I'll propose something to-morrow to prevent them getting sluggish again.' "True to my promise, I gave all hands a blue pill that night, and next forenoon, at a little before twelve, the captain called the men aft, and ordered the steward to bring up a gallon of rum and five pounds of tobacco. Then he doled out the latter and ordered the mainbrace to be spliced. The men after this looked more lively than they had done for a month. "`Now that I've got you awake with the help of the doctor and black Jack' (black Jack was the rum measure), said the captain, `let me tell you what we are going to do. We are going to convey wood and canvas by sleigh across the pack, to a patch of bay ice about three miles from here, and by the side of it, on the top of the heavy berg, we will build a tent, with a fire-place in it, big enough to roast a bear. This tent or marquee will be a regular Hall of Delights by the sad sea wave; we will cook in it, and eat in it, and dance and sing and tell stories in it. What say you, men?' "The men broke out into a wild cheer.