ttle.

"Yes," he said. "Shall I take a glass?"

"There!" cried Steve quickly.

"You shall go," said the captain. "I will send him instead, Johannes."

The man's quiet, stolid manner passed away in an instant.

"It is dangerous for the boy, sir," he said. "The rigging is all ice."

"Yes, but I'm going to be very careful, Johannes," cried Steve. "Let me
see; can't I sling the glass somehow?"

"Don't take that," said the captain. "Go to the cabin and fetch my
large binocular in its case. You can sling that over your shoulder."

Steve made a dart for the cabin, but stopped short, turned, gave the
doctor a quick look, and then walked slowly to the cabin door,
disappeared, and came back quite deliberately, adjusting the strap of
the glass over his arm.

"Yes, that will be powerful enough for the purpose," said the captain
quietly. "Now listen: what I want to know is in what directions the
lanes of open water lead. You will have an excellent view from up
there. Try and make out whether there is open water right up to the
land."

"Yes, I see," said Steve quietly; and he was about to take off his
gloves.

"Stop! What are you going to do?" cried the captain.

"Take off my gloves. I can hold on so much better."

"And perhaps leave the skin of your hands on the ropes. You do not feel
the cold much now because the air is perfectly still and the sun shining
brightly; but the mercury is very low, and it is growing colder. Keep
your gloves on, and be slow and careful. Now go."

Steve started once more, reached the main shrouds, swung himself up on
to the bulwark, and instantly had his first lesson in the peril of his
task, for all at once a foot glided along the top of the bulwark, and
then went off and downward. But he had taken a good grip of the shrouds
and saved himself, otherwise he must have gone overboard, and a curious
sensation of heat came over him, as he at once began to climb with the
ratlines feeling hard and thick like the staves of a ladder, while his
hold upon he icy ropes was awkward and strange. And now he began to
awaken to the fact that the job was a much harder one than he had
imagined it would be, and felt more and more the necessity for the
greatest of caution. Glancing down as he heard talking in a low,
earnest voice below, he saw that Johannes was speaking to the captain;
but it did not occur to him that it was about him till he had reached
the main-top, where he paused for a f