The World of Ice

in the ice-Mivins shows an inquiring mind-Walruses-Gale freshens-Chains and cables-Holding

their difficulties. Soon after passing the bergs, a stiff breeze sprang up off shore, between which and the Dolphin there was a thick belt of loose ice, or sludge, wh

st to yonder berg, Mr. Bolton. If this gale carries us into the pack, we shall be sw

sel get between two moving fields or floes of ice, there is a chance, especially in stormy weather

brig, with my own two eyes, squeezed together a'most flat by two big floes of ice, and after doin' it they jist separated agin and let her go plump

ing that ye mention happen to a small steamer in Davis' Straits, only instead o' crushin' it flat, the ice l

nd ice-anchors there

cess that they succeeded in making fast to the berg. They had barely accomplished this when the berg gave indications of breaking up, so they cast off

ed an impenetrable barrier, but at length a lead of open water was found, through which they passed to

go the anchor!" s

ay,

ur helm!

g chain-cable-a sound which had not been heard s

rked the first-mate, "we should be better. I'm afra

t, I fear, on account of the shore ice. Get out a boat, Mr. S

now began to fall in large flakes. The tide, too, as it receded, brought a stream of ice round the point ahead of them, which bore right down on their bows. At first the concussions were sl

e second mate near the companion

"I dinna like that sound. If we're carried out into the pa

assed at the moment with a tray of meat. Mizzle could not resist a

ers indignantly. "Attend to your busines

, and threatened to carry it away. In this extremity the captain ordered the anchor to be hove up; but this was not easily accomplished, and whe

fore the gale into the unknown regions of the North all that night. To add to their distress and danger a thick fog overspread the sea, so that they could not tell whither the ice was carrying them,

nd the sun shone out bright and clear; but the pack rem

emarked Captain Guy to Fred and Singleton, as he leaned on the weather bulw

as farther north than this when he attempted to reach the Pole," remarked Saund

least farther north in this direction than any one h

ely; "charts are not always to be depended on, and I've

take observations, and name the various headlands, until I find that others have been here

r-sky, captain?

ndicates open water; just the reverse of that bright appearance which

soon," remarked the sec

was enjoying in complete idleness the ten minutes of leisure that intervened between that and preparations for the next

ot a little on his vast and varied stores of knowledge, and nothing pl

ust be cooled down to 40 degrees, and salt water must be cooled down to 45 degrees. Noo, frost requires to be very long continu

lanation, "'ow very hodd. But can you tell me, Mr. Saunders, 'ow it is

high cliffs yonder away to the nor'-east? Weel, there are great masses o' ice that have been formed against them by the melting and freezing of the snows of many years. When these b

ir, I

in this world, for miles and miles in extent, and sometimes they flow down and fill up whole valleys. I once saw one in Norway that filled up a valley eight miles long, two miles broad, and seven or eight' hundred feet deep; and that

aid Mivins in surprise. "A

sely and so long, you'll not be able to observe the motion-just like the hour hand of a watch-but we know it by observing the changes from year to year. There are i

had he not been interrupted by the voice of his mischievous satellite, Davie Summers, who touched his forelock and s

aught me napping! Down

and afterwards by his active-limbed superior. Both reached the region of smells, cruets, and

ng the Dolphin once more out of the pack; but scarcely had this been accomplished when another storm, which

ts of the Arctic Ocean. Their aspect is particularly grim and fierce, and being nearly equal to elephants in bulk they are not less terrible than they appear. In form they somewhat resemble seals, having barrel-shaped bodies, with round, or rather square, blunt heads and shaggy bristling moustaches, and t

scowl overhung the blink under the cloud-bank to the southward, and the dovkies which had enlivened their progress hitherto forsook the channel, as if they distrusted the weather. Captain Guy m

the black clouds that hurried across the sky to the northwa

so portentously. Do you know, I have a great belief in that fellow. He seems to know everything and to

ld put a better face on things till they do come

tain, as the gale freshened, and the two hawsers were drawn straight and ri

snap of a cord was heard. The six-inch hawser had parted, and they were swinging by the two others, with the gale roaring like a lion through the spars and rigging. Half a minute more and "twang, twang!" came another report, and the whale-line was gone. Only one rope now held them to the land, and prevented them being swept into the turmoil of ice, and wind, and water, fro

ttempt was made to set the sails and beat up for the land; but the rudder was almost unmanageable owing to the ice, and nothing could be made of it, so they were compelled to go right before

ding up and clogging it from cliff to cliff on either side. About seven in the evening

ied the captain, in the desperate h

f us?" exclaimed the

d bow, right in-shore

tical situation towards the strange vessel which now came into view,

ke her out,

she seems much chafed, and there's no nam

nto the loose ice. There was evidently no one on board; and although one or two of the sails were loose, they hung in shreds from the

shouted th

ey had, and for two minutes the

ld

ng down towards the bow. There was no hope of resisting it. Time was not even afforded to attach a

against a lee of ice which was seldom less than thirty feet thick. Almost at the same moment the strange v

pered Fred Ellice, as he grasped Singleton's

r the larboard gangway and had overheard the remar

could see down into her hold, where the beams were giving way and cracking up as matches might be crushed in the grasp of a strong hand. Then the larboard bow was observed to yield as if it were made of soft clay, the starboard bow was pre

and deposited half a ton of ice on deck. Scarcely had this danger passed when a new enemy appeared in sight ahead. Directly in their way, just beyond the line of floe-ice against which they were alternately thumping and grinding,

ice," exclaimed Bolton in a hopeful tone of voic

r poles," cried the captai

assage, they discovered that the bergs were not at rest, but were bearing down on the floe-ice with slow but awful momentum, and threatening to crush the ship between the two. Just then a low

uarter boat

k the water, and four

e-anchor on

g them to brace the yards to clear the impending ice-walls, and they shaved the large berg so closely that the port quarter-boat would have been crushed if it had not been taken from the davits. Five minutes of such travelling brought them abreast of a grounded berg, to which t