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"Say hello to the penguins for me"

"I shall"

As the Zodiac skimmed over water that was as flat and reflective as a mirror, Maeve lectured her little band of intrepid tourists on the history behind their destination "Seyhted by Jaian explorers, castahen their ship was crushed in the ice, perished here in 1859 We'll visit the site where they lived until the end and then take a short walk to the hallowed ground where they are buried"

"Are those the buildings they lived in?" asked a lady whoto several structures in a small bay

"No," answered Maeve "What you see are what re station

We'll visit it just before we take a short hike around that rocky point you see to the south, to the penguin rookery"

"Does anyone live on the island?" asked the same lady

' The Argentineans have a research station on the northern tip of the island"

"How far away?"

Maeve sly "About thirty kiloroup who has the curiosity of a four-year-old, she mused

They could see the bottorowth to be seen anywhere Their shadow followed theh the bay No rollers broke on the shoreline, the sea ran s the exposed rock with the slight wash usually found around a small lake The crewman shut off the outboard motor as the bow of the Zodiac ski was a pure white snow petrel that glided through the sky above thee snowflake

Only after she had helped everyone to disembark from the Zodiac and wade ashore onto the pebbled beach in the knee-high rubber boots supplied by the ship did Maeve turn and look at the ship as it gathered way and steamed northward

The Polar Queen was quite sth was only seventy-two e She was built in Bergen, Norway, especially to cruise polar waters She was as ruggedly constructed as an icebreaker, a function she could perform if the occasion arose Her superstructure and the broad horizontal stripe below her lower deck were painted glacier white The rest of her hull was a bright yellow She could skirt the ice floes and icebergs with the agility of a rabbit due to her bow and stern thrusters Her comfortable cabins were furnished in the style of a ski chalet, with picture s facing the sea Other a salon, hosted by a chef who turned out three-star culinary creations, a fitness center and a library filled with books and inforions The creell trained and nuers

Maeve felt a tinge of regret she couldn't quite understand as the yellow-and-white Polar Queen grew smaller in the distance For a brief ian explorerstheir only s of uneasiness and began leading her party of babbling travelers across the gray moonscape to the cemetery

She allotted the the to rolls of film of the inscriptions Then she herded theiant bleached whale bones near the old station while describing the methods the whalers used to process the whales