He went back to his companions and said-- "Are you sure, Doctor, you haven't the steel?" "Quite, Johnson." "And you haven't it either, captain?" "Not I!" replied Hatteras. "It has always been in your keeping," said the Doctor. "Well, I have not got it now!" exclaimed Johnson, turning pale. "Not got the steel!" repeated the Doctor, shuddering involuntarily at the bare idea of its loss, for it was all the means they had of procuring a fire. "Look again, Johnson," he said. The boatswain hurried to the only remaining place he could think of, the hummock where he had stood to watch the bear. But the missing treasure was nowhere to be found, and the old sailor returned in despair. Hatteras looked at him, but no word of reproach escaped his lips. He only said-- "This is a serious business, Doctor." "It is, indeed!" said Clawbonny. "We have not even an instrument, some glass that we might take the lens out of, and use like a burning glass." "No, and it is a great pity, for the sun's rays are quite strong enough just now to light our tinder." "Well," said Hatteras, "we must just appease our hunger with the raw meat, and set off again as soon as we can, to try to discover the ship." "Yes!" replied Clawbonny, speaking to himself, absorbed in his own reflections. "Yes, that might do at a pinch! Why not? We might try." "What are you dreaming about?" asked Hatteras. "An idea has just occurred to me." "An idea come into your head, Doctor," exclaimed Johnson; "then we are saved!" "Will it succeed? that's the question." "What's your project?" said Hatteras. "We want a lens; well, let us make one." "How?" asked Johnson. "With a piece of ice." "What? Do you think that would do?" "Why not? All that is needed is to collect the sun's rays into one common focus, and ice will serve that purpose as well as the finest crystal." "Is it possible?" said Johnson. "Yes, only I should like fresh water ice, it is harder and more transparent than the other." "There it is to your hand, if I am not much mistaken," said Johnson, pointing to a hummock close by. [Illustration: ] "I fancy that is fresh water, from the dark look of it, and the green tinge." "You are right. Bring your hatchet, Johnson." A good-sized piece was soon cut off, about a foot in diameter, and the Doctor set to work. He began by chopping it into rough shape with the hatchet; then he operated upon it more carefully with his knife, making as smooth a surface as possible, and finished the polishing process with his fingers, rubbing away until he had obtained as transparent a lens as if it had been made of magnificent crystal. The sun was shining brilliantly enough for the Doctor's experiment. The tinder was fetched, and held beneath the lens so as to catch the rays in full power. In a few seconds it took fire, to Johnson's rapturous delight.