last long!' said the captain.

"The words were on his lips when we struck with a noise like the
splintering of glass. We were all thrown down, and my companion screamed
like a mad thing. The captain rose and ran to the bows; and in a moment
he came back and his beard was shaking.

"'God save us!' he cried, 'and fetch aft the rum!'

"There you have man in his invincible moods. They drank till they were in
a condition to face death; and then they found that our situation was
rather improved than otherwise by the collision. For--so it appeared--we
had run full tilt for a perpendicular fissure in a huge block, and
into that our bows were firmly wedged, the nature of the impact
distributing the shock, and the berg itself carrying us along with it and
protecting us.

"Now the dipping motion of the vessel was exchanged for a heavy regular
wash along its stern quarters; for the bows were so much raised as that I
felt a little strain on my knees as I went forward to satisfy my
curiosity with a view of the icy mass into which we were penetrated. I
waited, indeed, until the crew were come aft again from looking, and my
friend crept timidly at my shoulder; but when we reached the stem, there
was one of the hands, a little soberer than his fellows, sprawled over
the bulwarks, and staring with all his eyes into the green lift of the
wall against him.

"'Is it a mermaid you see, Killigrew?' I asked.

"The man shifted his gaze to me slowly and solemnly.

"'Nowt, nowt,' said he; 'but a turble monster, like a pram stuck in
jelly.'

"I laughed, and went to his side. The fog, as I have said, was dense and
bright, and one could see into it a little way, as into a milky white
agate. But now and again a film of it would pull thin, and then sunlight
came through and made a dim radiance of the ice.

"'I can make out nothing,' I said.

"He cocked an eye and leered up at me. 'Look steady and sober,' he said,
'and you'll make en owut like as in a glass darkly.'

"I gave a little gasp and my friend a cry before the words were issued
from the man's mouth. Drawn by some current of air, the fog at the
moment blew out of the cleft, like smoke from a chimney; and there,
before our gaze, was a great curved tusk coming up through the ice and
inside it.

"Now I clapped my hands in an agony, lest the fog should close in again,
and the vision fade before my eyes; for, following the sweep of the tusk,
I was aware of the phantom presentment of