THE WORLD OF ICE. 83

brig went down, and the ice was rolling wildly, as if
in triumph, over the spot where she had disappeared.

The fate of this vessel, which might so soon be their
own, threw a momentary gloom over the crew of the
Dolphin, but their position left them no time for
thought. One upturned mass rose above the gunwale,
smashed in the bulwarks, and deposited half a ton of
ice on deck. Scarecly 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, lay a
group of bergs. There was no possibility of avoiding
them, and the only question was, whether they were
to be dashed to pieces on their hard blue sides, or,
perchance, in some providential nook to find a refuge
from the storm.

“There’s an open lead between them and the floe-
ice,’ exclaimed Bolton in a hopeful tone of voice, seiz-
ing an ice-pole and leaping on the gunwale.

“ Look alive, men, with your poles,” cried the cap-
tain, “and shove with a will!”
> of the men was uttered with a
heartiness that showed how powerfully this gleam of
hope acted on their spirits; but a new damp was cast
over them when, on gaining the open passage, they
discovered that the bergs were not at rest, but were
bearing down on the floc-ice with slow but awful
momentum, and threatening to crush the ship between

The “ Ay, ay, sir,

the two. Just then a low berg came driving up from
the southward, dashing the spray over its sides, and