"Once more, dear aunt," said he, "farewell. With God's blessing we shall come back soon.--Write to me, darling Isobel, won't you? to Upernavik, on the coast of Greenland. If none of our ships are bound in that direction, write by way of Denmark. Old Mr. Singleton will tell you how to address your letter; and see that it be a long one." "Now then, youngster, jump aboard," shouted the captain; "look sharp!" "Ay, ay," returned Fred, and in another moment he was on the quarter-deck, by the side of his friend Tom. The ship, loosed from her moorings, spread her canvas, and plunged forward on her adventurous voyage. But this time she does not grow smaller as she advances before the freshening breeze, for you and I, reader, have embarked in her, and the land now fades in the distance, until it sinks from view on the distant horizon, while nothing meets our gaze but the vault of the bright blue sky above, and the plane of the dark blue sea below. CHAPTER III. _The voyage--The "Dolphin" and her crew--Ice ahead--Polar scenes--Masthead observations--The first whale--Great excitement_. And now we have fairly got into blue water--the sailor's delight, the landsman's dread,-- "The sea! the sea! the open sea; The blue, the fresh, the ever free." "It's my opinion," remarked Buzzby to Singleton one day, as they stood at the weather gangway watching the foam that spread from the vessel's bow as she breasted the waves of the Atlantic gallantly--it's my opinion that our skipper is made o' the right stuff. He's entered quite into the spirit of the thing, and I heard him say to the first mate yesterday he'd made up his mind to run right up into Baffin's Bay and make inquiries for Captain Ellice first, before goin' to his usual whalin'-ground. Now that's wot I call doin' the right thing; for, ye see, he runs no small risk o' getting beset in the ice, and losing the fishin' altogether by so doin'." "He's a fine fellow," said Singleton; "I like him better every day, and I feel convinced he will do his utmost to discover the whereabouts of our missing friend; but I fear much that our chances are small, for, although we know the spot which Captain Ellice intended to visit, we cannot tell to what part of the frozen ocean ice and currents may have carried him." "True," replied Buzzby, giving to his left eye and cheek just that peculiar amount of screw which indicated intense sagacity and penetration; "but I've a notion that, if they are to be found, Captain Guy is the man to find 'em." "I hope it may turn out as you say. Have you ever been in these seas before, Buzzby?" "No, sir--never; but I've got a half-brother wot has bin in the Greenland whale-fishery, and I've bin in the South Sea line myself." "What line was that, Buzzby?" inquired David Summers, a sturdy boy of about fifteen, who acted as assistant steward, and was, in fact, a nautical maid-of-all-work. "Was it a log-line, or a bow-line, or a cod-line, or a bit of the equator, eh?"