HOMEWARD BOUND.--ENTERING MELVILLE BAY.--ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR.--MEETING THE PACK.--MAKING THE "SOUTH WATER."--REACHING UPERNAVIK.--THE NEWS.--TO GOODHAVEN.--LIBERALITY OF THE DANISH GOVERNMENT AND THE GREENLAND OFFICIALS.--DRIVEN OUT OF BAFFIN BAY BY A GALE.--CRIPPLED BY THE STORM AND FORCED TO TAKE SHELTER IN HALIFAX.--HOSPITABLE RECEPTION.--ARRIVAL IN BOSTON.--REALIZE THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.--THE DETERMINATION.--CONCLUSION. My story is soon ended. Having completed the exploration of Whale Sound, we tripped our anchor and stood southward. The heavens were bright and the air soft with a summer warmth; and as we glided down the waveless waters, all sparkling with icebergs, watching the scene of our adventures slowly sinking away behind us under the crimson trail of the midnight sun, it seemed truly as if smooth seas and gentle winds had come to invite us home. But this repose of the elements was of short duration. A dark curtain rose after a while above the retreating hills, and sent us a parting salute, in the shape of a storm of snow and wind, so that we were soon obliged to gather in some of our canvas, and keep a sharp lookout. My purpose was to reach the "West Water," by making a course toward Pond's Bay, then round the "middle ice" to the southward, and make an easterly course for the Greenland coast. The atmosphere cleared up at length, but the wind held on fiercely. Being from the north-northeast, it seemed to me then to favor an easterly rather than a westerly passage; so, having reached a little below the latitude of Cape York, on the meridian of 73° 40′ without discovering any signs of ice, I changed my original purpose, and, altering the course of the schooner, struck directly across Melville Bay for Upernavik. The result proved the prudence of this change. In twenty-four hours we ran down nearly two degrees of latitude, and hauled in seven degrees of longitude, finding ourselves at noon of August 10th in latitude 74° 19′, longitude 66°, without having encountered any ice seriously to trouble us. The air still holding clear, we had no difficulty in avoiding the bergs. The sea had by this time become very angry, and I was almost as anxious as I had been the year before, when entering the bay from the south. The atmosphere was, however, perfectly clear. [Sidenote: ENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR.]