ays' calm and frost would freeze it solid."

"Well?" Wyllard returned impatiently.

"It lies between us and the inlet, and it's quite clear that we can't
stay where we are. Once we got nipped, there'd probably be an end of
her. We must get into that inlet at once or make for the other further
south."

Wyllard shook his head. "It all leads back to the same point. We must
get through the ice. The one question is--how is it to be done?"

"With a working breeze I'd stand into the biggest opening, but as
there's none we'll wait until it clears a little, and then send a boat
in. The sun may bring the wind."

They had breakfast while they waited, but the wind did not come, and it
was several hours later when a pale coppery disc became visible and the
haze grew thinner. Then they swung a boat out hastily, for it would not
be very long before the light died away again. Two white men and an
Indian dropped into the boat and they pulled across half a mile of
sluggishly heaving water, crept up an opening, and presently vanished
among the ice. Soon afterward the low sun went out, and wisps of ragged
cloud crept up from the westward, while smears of vapor blurred the
horizon, and the swell grew steeper. There was no wind at all, but
blocks and canvas banged and thrashed furiously at every roll, until
they lowered the mainsail and lashed its heavy boom to the big iron
crutch astern. The boat remained invisible, but its crew had been given
instructions to push on as far as possible if they found clear water,
and Dampier, who did not seem uneasy about the men, paced up and down
the deck while the afternoon wore away.

CHAPTER XVII

DEFEAT

A gray dimness was creeping in upon the schooner when a bitter breeze
sprang tip from the westward, and Dampier bade the crew get the mainsail
on to the _Selache_.

"I don't like the look of the weather, and I'm beginning to feel that
I'd like to see that boat," he said. "Anyhow, we'll get way on her."

It was a relief to hoist the mainsail. The work put a little warmth into
the sailors. The white men had been conscious of a growing uneasiness
about their comrades in the boat, and action of any sort was welcome.
The breeze had freshened before they set the sail, and there were
whitecaps on the water when the _Selache_ headed for the ice, which had
somewhat changed its formation, for big masses had become detached from
it and were moving out into the water, while the open space had b