er spoke another word. 5
The mate pointed out with no little difficulty the cake of
ice floating off to the leeward, with its white, glittering
surface broken by a black spot.

"Get the glass, Mr. Larkin," said I; "the moon will be
out of that cloud in a moment and then we can see distinctly." 10

I kept my eye upon the receding mass of ice while the
moon was slowly working her way through a heavy bank of
clouds. The mate stood by me with the glass, and when
the full light fell upon the water with a brilliancy only 15
known in our northern latitudes, I put the glass to my eye.
One glance was enough.

"Forward, there!" I hailed at the top of my voice; and
with one bound I reached the main hatch and began to
clear away the little cutter which was stowed in the ship's 20
yawl.

Mr. Larkin had taken the glass to look for himself.
"There are two children on that cake of ice!" he exclaimed,
as he hastened to assist me in getting out the boat.

The men answered my hail and walked quickly aft. In 25
a short space of time we launched the cutter, into which Mr.
Larkin and myself jumped, followed by the two men who
took the oars. I rigged the tiller, and the mate sat beside
me in the stern sheets.

"Do you see that cake of ice with something black upon 30
it, my lads? Put me alongside of that and I'll give you a
month's extra wages when you are paid off," said I.

They bent to their oars, but their strokes were uneven
and feeble, for they were worn out by the hard duty of the
preceding fortnight; and though they did their best, the
boat made little more headway than the tide. It was a
losing chase, and Mr. Larkin, who was suffering torture 5
as he saw how little we gained, cried out, "Pull, lads! I'll
double the captain's prize; two months' extra pay. Pull,
lads! pull for life!"

A convulsive effort at the oars told how willing the men
were to obey, but the strength of the strong men was gone. 10
One of the poor fellows washed us twice in recovering his
oar and then gave out, and the other was nearly as far gone.
Mr. Larkin sprang forward and seized the deserted oar.
"Lie down in the bottom of the boat," said he to the man;
"and, Captain, take the other oar! We must row for ourselves." 15

I took the second man's place. Larkin had strippe