t the mainmast, and we
grouped ourselves about it as the captain went up to examine the
register.

"One hundred and ninety degrees Fahrenheit!" he muttered in evident
astonishment. "Impossible!" Turning sharply about, he ran his eyes over
us, and inquired in a peremptory tone, "who's been in command while I
was runnin' my eye over that book?"

"Well, captain," I replied, as respectfully as I knew how, "the fourth
day out I had the unhappiness to be drawn into a dispute about a game of
cards with your first and second officers. In the absence of those
excellent seamen, sir, I thought it my duty to assume control of the
ship."

"Killed 'em, hey?"

"Sir, they committed suicide by questioning the efficacy of four kings
and an ace."

"Well, you lubber, what have you to say in defense of this extraordinary
weather?"

"Sir, it is no fault of mine. We are far--very far south, and it is now
the middle of July. The weather is uncomfortable, I admit; but
considering the latitude and season, it is not, I protest,
unseasonable."

"Latitude and season!" he shrieked, livid with rage--"latitude and
season! Why, you junk-rigged, flat-bottomed, meadow lugger, don't you
know any better than that? Didn't yer little baby brother ever tell ye
that southern latitudes is colder than northern, and that July is the
middle o' winter here? Go below, you son of a scullion, or I'll break
your bones!"

"Oh! very well," I replied; "I'm not going to stay on deck and listen to
such low language as that, I warn you. Have it your own way."

The words had no sooner left my lips, than a piercing cold wind caused
me to cast my eye upon the thermometer. In the new regime of science the
mercury was descending rapidly; but in a moment the instrument was
obscured by a blinding fall of snow. Towering icebergs rose from the
water on every side, hanging their jagged masses hundreds of feet above
the masthead, and shutting us completely in. The ship twisted and
writhed; her decks bulged upward, and every timber groaned and cracked
like the report of a pistol. The _Camel_ was frozen fast. The jerk of
her sudden stopping snapped the bullock's chain, and sent both that
animal and the Dutchman over the bows, to accomplish their warfare on
the ice.

Elbowing my way forward to go below, as I had threatened, I saw the crew
tumble to the deck on either hand like ten-pins. They were frozen stiff.
Passing the captain, I asked him sneeringly how he liked the wea